MINNESOTA IMMUNIZATION INFORMATION CONNECTION
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act (FERPA) and Immunization Data
This fact sheet contains information for schools
about the federal Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act (FERPA) as it relates to the Minnesota
Immunization Information Connection (MIIC)
and immunization data. MIIC is the statewide
immunization registry.
Disclaimer of legal advice: The following is the
Minnesota Department of Health’s analysis of
how FERPA applies to schools disclosing
immunization data. This is not legal advice and
you should not rely on it as legal advice. Please
consult with a lawyer for legal advice.
Can schools legally share
immunization data?
For years, schools freely shared immunization
data with clinics and public health in order to
ensure children were up to date with their
vaccines. However, according to our analysis,
FERPA highlights how this long-standing practice
is not allowable. FERPA says that immunization
information on individual students cannot be
released without parental consent except under
certain circumstances.
This is an obstacle to sharing immunization data.
The Minnesota Immunization Data Sharing Law
(M.S. §144.3351) allows schools to share data
with MIIC, but the federal FERPA law preempts
the Minnesota Immunization Data Sharing Law.
immunization records but not share new
information.
However, there are some schools that submit
immunization data to MIIC. These schools get
parental consent. One of the best times to get
consent is during enrollment open houses.
Sample school consent language
is provided for your convenience on the MIIC
website at Possible School Consent Language for
Sharing Immunization Data with Registries
(www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/immunize/r
egistry/ferpaconsent.doc).
You can use these templates as a starting place
and discuss them with your attorney. If you
decide to obtain parental consent, you may be
able to incorporate the MIIC consent language
into other health- or consent-related forms.
Where can I find more
resources?
For more information see MIIC and
Schools (http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/ide
pc/immunize/registry/schools.html). You can
also find instructions on how to use various MIIC
features at MIIC User Guidance and Training
Resources
(www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/immunize/r
egistry/hp/train.html).
How can schools comply with
FERPA?
In order to comply with FERPA, schools must get
parental/guardian consent to share
immunization data with MIIC. As a result, many
schools choose to have read-only access to MIIC.
This type of access allows them to view student
(1/16) Page 1 of 1