AB 1797 becomes law Jan. 1, 2023

DEVELOPMENT OF A STATE IMMUNIZATION REGISTRY (WEBER)

AB 1797 mandates the vaccination status of everyone that is administered a vaccine in the state of California to be entered into the CA Immunization Registry (CAIR). Schools and other state entities will have access to your vaccination records, rather than just those of their students/patients or the particular vaccines required for school. This bill will, until January 1, 2026, additionally authorize schools, childcare facilities, family childcare homes, and county human services agencies to use the specified immunization information, in the event of a for the COVID-19 public health emergency, to perform immunization status assessments of pupils, adults, and clients.

There is no opt out of CAIR. Your vaccination data will be entered into the CAIR database. You can only “lock” your or your child’s vaccine CAIR records from being shared to outside entities.  After refusal, the patient’s or client’s physician may maintain access to this information for the purposes of patient care or protecting the public health. After refusal, the local health department and the State Department of Public Health may maintain access to this information for the purpose of protecting the public health pursuant to Sections 100325, 120140, and 120175, as well as Sections 2500 to 2643.20, inclusive, of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations. While this may prevent authorized users, such as schools/colleges, licensed childcare facilities, adult care facilities, Foster Care programs, CalWorks and other entities that require vaccine information to participate, from being able to access your/your child’s vaccine information, this data will still remain in CAIR and can be accessed by your physician or surgeon, LDH and CDPH. Vaccination status from a out of state/country are not entered into CAIR, unless your CA medical provider submits it to the database.  

CAIR Sharing Policy

Per California Immunization Registry law (Health & Safety Code §120440), all patients/parents have the right to decline to have their information in CAIR shared with other participating Organizations. Read the CAIR Sharing Policy for Organizations using CAIR.

*Prior to this new law, your or child’s vaccine records may or not be already in the CAIR database. You will have to search their database to verify. (You can find out if your records are in CAIR by either asking your doctor’s office to search if your’s or your child’s Vaccination Records are in the database or contact CAIR directly and submit your ID for verification.) If your vaccine records are already in the database, you can choose to lock those records. If your records are not in the database, you don’t have to do anything.

CAIR Forms 

To request that your/your child’s record in CAIR be ‘locked’ or ‘unlocked’, click your preferred language below.

• English  – Lock | Unlock 

• Spanish – Lock | Unlock

• Arabic (PDF)

• Armenian (PDF)

• Cambodian (PDF)

• Chinese (Traditional)(PDF)

• Farsi (PDF)

• Hindi (PDF)

• Hmong (PDF)

• Japanese (PDF)

• Korean (PDF)

• Punjabi (PDF)

• Russian  (PDF) 

• Tagalog (PDF)

• Vietnamese  (PDF)

  *It can take 5-7 days officially lock your records.

Summary:

• Physicians/surgeons have access and can input their patient’s information in CAIR.

• If you have locked your/your child’s information, your doctor can still access this information.

• Locking your data does not prevent submission to or remove your information from CAIR - You cannot OPT OUT from having your data entered into the database.  

• Schools/colleges, licensed childcare facilities, adult care facilities, Foster Care programs, CalWorks and other entities that require vaccine information to participate have access to download CAIR information.  These entities must get your permission to look up your/your child’s vaccine information by having you fill out a form.  If you have locked your information they will not be able to access your/your child’s vaccine information until you unlock your records in CAIR.

• If you don’t have your records in the CAIR database, then you do not have to do anything.

• (CDPH) has access to the full database with no restrictions, even if you locked your/your child’s information.

*Prior to this new law, your or child’s vaccine records may or not be already in the CAIR database. You will have to search their database to verify. (You can find out if your records are in CAIR by either asking your doctor’s office to search if your’s or your child’s Vaccination Records are in the database or contact CAIR directly and submit your ID for verification.) If your vaccine records are already in the database, you can choose to lock those records. If your records are not in the database, you don’t have to do anything.