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by overfitted 2243 days ago
One thing came to mind. Living in Sweden - There's no shared/common place where vaccination records are stored... neither for infants or adults. This, because every region (within Sweden) has its own systems, responsibilities and public procurement processes for IT for Healthcare. Also, privacy. One has to store a physical paper vaccination card, remember where it is between the vaccinations and bring it. Any input from other countries? I'd say Swedes in general think the US healthcare system sounds awful. Would be 'funny' though if this were something Americans have.
3 comments

> I'd say Swedes in general think the US healthcare system sounds awful.

It is awful, though the main problem with the system is in the financing of care, as far as I can tell. You would think that would be easier to fix than developing a rather more advanced healthcare system, because there are already very qualified professionals, equipment, etc.

In any case, there's no centralized database in the US as well. From the CDC website (where the "unfortunately" is in response to locating lost records):

> Unfortunately, there is no national organization that maintains vaccination records. The CDC does not have this information. The records that exist are the ones you or your parents were given when the vaccines were administered and the ones in the medical record of the doctor or clinic where the vaccines were given.

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/vaccination-records.html

For Covid-19, there are county and state databases which can record people who test positive, and their "contact traces" (e.g. people you spent more than 15 minutes within 6 feet). Not much is known about the federal health surveillance system, but it includes Palantir, who have also worked with the Census Bureau, https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/21/21230453/palantir-coronav...
I'm not entirely sure what your point is. Tracking individuals affected by an ongoing situation is rather different, and seems to be the norm in most countries that are responding to the virus including the one where I live. Most seem to have more centralization than in the US, where states almost exclusively mediate the measures taken to reduce spread, etc.
In Italy it is done at a regional level, at least, if not centralized (but I have only experience from my local area). I know my medical record in the healthcare system has all the details of all the vaccinations I've done.
It varies by state, probably. In my state the government has vaccination records. Schools can access them, as can your primary care physician.