Hiding behind HIPAA? State mum on vaxxed/unvaxxed Covid deaths

By Guy Page

The State of Vermont can’t release vaxxed vs. unvaxxed death/hospitalization data because it might violate HIPAA health care privacy laws, the Vermont Department of Health Covid-19 Public Inquiries Team told a vaccine freedom advocate.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.

Public domain

After a spate of media reports about vaxxed/unvaxxed deaths (including VDC’s) made national news, Vermont’s Department of Health stopped providing specific death totals. Instead, its weekly updates showed only the higher rate of unvaccinated deaths. After many requests for death totals, VDH said this information would not be provided.

None of the Vermont Department of Health publicly-available information mentions patients’ names or hometowns. It identifies them by age and medical conditions.

The email conversation between Health Choice Vermont Executive Director Jennifer Stella and a member of the VDH Covid-19 Public Inquiries Team began Feb. 15 with this inquiry from Stella:

“Why is the state not reporting cases, hospitalizations and deaths based on treated v. untreated groups, as it vaxxed 1-2-3-4 doses versus untreated 0 doses? This would help all of us see if the vaccine is working, or not,” Stella wrote.

To better understand the answer Stella received, some history is helpful. In late summer and early fall, more vaccinated Vermonters died of Covid-19 than unvaccinated Vermonters, according to data provided by the Dept. of Health. As reported by Vermont Daily Chronicle, these numbers reflected Vermont’s high vaccination rate. Although the numerical death totals showed more vaccinated Vermonters dying, the death rate was higher among the unvaccinated because vaccinated Vermonters outnumbered the unvaccinated by about 4-1.

Nevertheless, shortly after a spate of media reports about vaxxed/unvaxxed deaths (including VDC’s) made national news, Vermont’s Department of Health stopped providing specific death totals. Instead, its weekly updates showed only the higher rate of unvaccinated deaths. After many requests for death totals, VDH told VDC this information would not be provided.

A week after Stella’s request, she received this response from the Covid team:

“The Vermont Department of Health does indeed collect and analyze data on the vaccination status of cases/hospitalizations/deaths. However, due to the small size of our state, we do not make that data available to the general public because doing so could possibly reveal the identity of individual people, thus violating their right to privacy. [Italics added.]

“In addition, our source of case data has changed. Early in the pandemic, the majority of testing was conducted at state-run test sites using the PCR test and our Vaccine and Testing Registry system. This enabled the Vermont Department of Health to gather and publish highly accurate data regarding the number of COVID-19 cases, including statistics on the vaccination status of cases. However, in recent months, rapid antigen tests have become widely available and now constitutes a majority of the testing that is done in the state. Although we request that at-home test results be reported to the Health Department, we have no way of enforcing that. As a result, it has become more difficult to gather and publish accurate data on the overall numbers of cases.

“In the course of the past nearly two years, a substantial body of evidence has been gathered worldwide the demonstrates the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in reducing severe illness resulting in hospitalization, or death from the disease. When it comes to determining whether COVID-19 vaccines are “working”, it is important to remember that the vaccines were granted FDA Emergency Use Authorization or approval based in part on their effectiveness in preventing those two outcomes. The vaccine manufacturers did not claim that their product(s) could or would prevent infection altogether. Early on, the vaccines actually did do a good job of preventing infection from the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and early variants such as alpha and beta. However, due to the greater transmissibility of the delta and omicron variants, there have been more cases in Vermont among people who were vaccinated but fortunately, most of those cases have been asymptomatic or had only mild to moderate symptoms.”

Guy Page is publisher of the Vermont Daily Chronicle. Reprinted with permission.

Image courtesy of Public domain

8 thoughts on “Hiding behind HIPAA? State mum on vaxxed/unvaxxed Covid deaths

  1. What a bunch of hipp pocrasee.
    This is about HIDING THE DATA because IT IS SO ALARMING and the GENOCIDE of Vermonters is more important than informing us we are being genocided.
    Lead with that next time you ask.
    A true historical perspective would note the start of the control of information that is replaced by propaganda, starting with Fauci, Dr. Levine, and our Reichsmarshall Scott, by our media, and the complicity of not the direction of the government to control information and communication.
    We live in a fascist state run by Big Pharma.
    Who is BioGen partnered with in the State to do research? THAT is hip deep in eugenics right there, we are.
    Now, the kids who are dying are to remain anonymous and uncounted.
    Who benefits from this censorship?

  2. More news: rising concern for HIV/AIDS. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccines-aids-destroying-immune-function/?utm_source=salsa&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=8c8ff710-927d-47ca-a1b6-6b7742002a1f

    Mercola– he of “dirty dozen” misinformation fame– has a point. We’re starting to hear a lot more about AIDS.

    If the push for a Great Reset is true (and it is) and if the concern over Covid seems to be fading (it seems to be) and if Moderna is working on an HIV mRNA vaccine (it is) and if HIV rears its ugly head and reinforces calls for vaccine passports, then presto! Main goal of Great Reset to monitor and manage everyone through digital ID/passport system gets a big push. They’re not just going to forget about it if people stage a trucker protest.

    So we need to get to the bottom of all this data and all this science because we need to get a handle on what’s really going on, and that will help us to determine the plausibility of any designs that might fall under the heading of “conspiracy theory.” But one thing we know for certain: the designs of the Great Reset folk aren’t just theory. They’re working hard to create a framework for their build-back-better world, which they’re completely convinced is necessary to save the planet. And since this is true and since climate science is overall very bad science, it makes one wonder if the theory of catastrophic warming wasn’t part of the plan, as a way to justify all necessary measures and add moral weight to these measures.

  3. What I’d like to know: Ages of every death listed as a Covid death. It’s my belief that a large majority of deaths in Vermont are in the 80+ age group. I’d also like to know how many of the deaths listed as Covid deaths were people that either were transferred to a hospital from a long-term care facility and died in a hospital, or died in long term care facilities. To really push the data envelope, I’d like to know, of those who died while in the hospital, how many died after being ventilated, and/or treated with Remdesivir. Let’s take it another step: How much has UVMMC received in CARES $$ for: diagnosis, hospitalization, treatment, ventilated patients, prescriptions of Remdesivir and Covid deaths. Citizen journalists for the win.

    • Right.

      Remdesivir has been called “run-death-is-near”: it shuts the kidneys down, for one thing. It was approved on the flimsiest, most questionable of evidence; if it had been HCQ instead, the authorities would have rightly said, “no way.” Made by Gilead Science. Who was former head of Gilead? None other than Donald Rumsfeld. No, that doesn’t seem suspicious to me, either. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33340409/

      A good number of doctors are of the opinion that giving remdesivir to sick Covid patients hastens their deaths and adds extra burden to already-strained bodies. But Fauci wanted remdesivir so that’s what we got– after all, he pushed it through Ebola trials even though more people died on that drug than any other.

      And yes, it’s “possible” that someone could figure out someone’s identity if they disclosed information about vaccination status. But it’s a lot more likely that revealing such information would damage the narrative about how wonderful the vaccines are.

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