Overview
The Massachusetts Immunization Information System (MIIS), a web-based system that keeps track of all immunizations that healthcare providers report having administered to children and adults in Massachusetts. The system was established in 2011 and is operated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) according to state law (M.G.L c. 111, Section 24M; 105 CMR 222).
This MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records Privacy Policy should be considered a complement to the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records Terms and Conditions, and the Mass.gov Site Policies, including the Mass.gov Privacy Policy. Although vaccine record requests will occur via myvaxrecords.mass.gov, the Mass.gov site policies will apply. The MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records will provide you with a digital copy of the record of vaccines which have been reported to MIIS. This system only includes records that your healthcare providers reported to MDPH via the MIIS. If you need a record of vaccines you received from the federal government or in another state, you may need to contact whoever administered those vaccines. Before submitting a request through the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records or submitting any personally identifiable information (defined below), please review this Privacy Policy carefully. Your privacy with respect to the use of Mass.gov results from a partnership between the Commonwealth and you, the user. At Mass.gov, the Commonwealth attempts to protect your privacy as required by law. This policy informs you of the information that we collect from you for the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records, what we do with it, to whom it may be disseminated, and how you can access it. Based on this information, you can make an informed decision about submitting a request. You can maximize the benefits of your privacy partnership with the Commonwealth by making informed decisions about whether to share personally identifiable information with us for the purpose of accessing vaccination records through the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records.
Personally identifiable information
We use the term “personally identifiable information” to mean any information that could reasonably be used to identify you, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, Social Security number, birth date, bank account information, credit card information, or any combination of information that could be used to identify you.
Personally identifiable information we collect for the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records is used to validate your vaccine status and to contact you, or if you are under 18, your parent or guardian. You are required to provide certain information during the request as a condition of using the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records.
- Information you provide that is required for registration:
- Your first name and last name
- Cell phone OR email address
- Gender
- Your date of birth
- PIN (4-digit PIN created by requestor)
- If a record is found, you will be required to provide:
- The 4-digit PIN you created during your request.
Internet Activity Information
When you visit, use, and interact with the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records or electronic amendment form request system, report a technical problem with My Vax Records, DPH may receive certain information about your visit, use, or interactions. For example, DPH may monitor the number of people that visit the page, peak hours of visits, which page(s) are visited, the domains our visitors come from and which browsers people use to access the page, broad geographical information, and navigation pattern. For more information about information automatically collected and stored by Mass.gov, cookies, and data analytics, please see the Mass.gov Privacy Policy.
How DPH uses personally identifiable information for the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records
DPH may use personally identifiable information for the following purposes:
- To find a matching vaccination record within the MIIS. When you enter your first name, last name, date of birth, and other required information, DPH will use the information you provide to contact you, or if you are under 18, your parent or guardian, that a match was or was not found.
- To analyze how you interact with the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records;
- To maintain and improve the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records and content related to it, and any other purposes consistent with the Terms and Conditions;
- To prevent fraud, spam, criminal activity, or abuses or misuses of the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records, and to ensure the security of our IT systems, architecture, and networks;
- To comply with legal obligations and legal process and to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or other third parties; and,
- To update information held within the MIIS and to administer the MIIS.
Aggregated Information
DPH may aggregate personally identifiable information and use the aggregated information to analyze the effectiveness of the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records, to improve and add features to our web page and/or process, to develop new services consistent with the Commonwealth’s policies, for research, to respond to requests for information, and for other similar purposes. In addition, from time to time, DPH may analyze the general behavior and characteristics of those registering for the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records and share aggregated information like general user statistics.
DPH may collect aggregated information through the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records, through cookies, and through other means described in this Privacy Policy.
Dissemination of personally identifiable information
The Commonwealth does not sell any personally identifiable information collected through Mass.gov or submitted to the Commonwealth in conjunction with using functions on Mass.gov or the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records, and there is no direct or online public access to the information. However, once you voluntarily submit personally identifiable information to us related to your use of Mass.gov or the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records, control of the information is governed by the “Fair Information Practices Act” (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66A), and other applicable law. DPH will protect your personally identifiable information to the full degree provided for under the Fair Information Practices Act and other law, but there are circumstances where DPH may be required to make limited disclosures in order to comply with court orders, legal process, or to protect our own rights or the rights of third parties, or may otherwise be authorized by law to make disclosures of personally identifiable information held with the MIIS.
Otherwise, the information that you voluntarily submit will be disclosed only to Commonwealth employees or officials, or those under contract with the Commonwealth, with a “need to know” for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. The information will be used for such purposes as: administering the MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records; answering your questions; responding to any requests for assistance; generating summary statistics about usage; auditing applications and detecting fraud, spam, abuses or misuses of the services; aiding in the planning, design and development of Mass.gov; and fulfilling the Commonwealth's legal obligations.
Your opportunity to correct
If you believe you have made an error in your vaccination record request, you may resubmit a new request.
Data retention
DPH keeps personally identifiable information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records Privacy Policy, while DPH have a business need to do so, or as required by law, whichever is longer.
Security
Information that you send to the Commonwealth through My Vax Records Portal and the My Vax Record Portal's Chatbot is encrypted, DPH uses standard security measures to ensure that information provided by you, including your personally identifiable information, is not lost, misused, altered, or unintentionally destroyed. DPH also uses software to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.
Changes to the MIIS Portal Privacy Policy
The MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records may change from time to time, and DPH may change this MIIS Patient Access Portal – My Vax Records Privacy Policy at any time accordingly. When DPH does, we will post an updated version on this page. Changes to the Mass.gov Privacy Policy will proceed in accordance with the provisions articulated in that policy.
Contact us about site policies
If you have questions about Mass.gov website policies, you can use this form. Please do not include sensitive information, such as Social Security or bank account numbers. This form will only be responded to if the submission is about a Mass.gov website policy. All other questions or submissions will not receive a response.
Please use www.search.mass.gov or the Ask MA chatbot for questions about other subjects.