Swiss government admits poor oversight of online vaccination registry
The Swiss government says supervision of the voluntary vaccination registry mesvaccins.ch, which closed in May 2021 following data security concerns, was “too measured”.
In spring 2021, serious data protection and security shortcomings were identified in the management of the online vaccination platform. The registry was closed, and a House of Representatives committee carried out an investigation which concluded in January that oversight by the Federal Department of Home Affairs and the Federal Office of Public Health had been “too restrained”
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In a press releaseExternal link (available in DE, FR and IT) published on Friday, the Federal Council admitted a certain degree of error, agreeing with the committee’s report that oversight had been “too measured”.
“Some negligence on the part of the foundation, such as the late submission of reports or invoices, should have led to more critical and rapid requests,” it wrote.
In its earlier report, the committee concluded that the FOPH acted appropriately regarding data security with the “mesvaccines” foundation and that it paid sufficient attention to the aspect of data protection.
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The free online vaccination registry allowed people to create an electronic version of their paper vaccination record to ensure they are kept up to date about their vaccinations. The platform had received the financial support of government public health departments.
The platform was discontinued in March 2021 following a report by the online magazine Republik that 450,000 pieces of vaccination data, including those of 240,000 people vaccinated against Covid-19, were openly accessible and vulnerable to manipulation.
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