Access to Information, Personal Data, and the COVID-19 Vaccine

The Agency of Access to Public Information (“AAIP”) published the Access to Information, Personal Data, and COVID-19 Vaccine Guide (the “Guide”), outlining the criteria for processing and disclosing the personal data of individuals who have received the COVID-19 vaccine. The Guide aims to balance the publics’ right to access public information with the data subjects’ right to privacy.

In the Guide, the AAIP distinguishes three different scenarios for processing and disclosing the personal data of individuals who have received the COVID-19 vaccine:

1. General vaccination data: which includes the data of individuals who have been vaccinated in accordance with the rules set forth by the Health Ministry, complying with appointments and the corresponding vaccination phases. Pursuant to the Guide, this kind of personal data may only be published if dissociated from the individual. Moreover, only basic personal data such as age and gender, vaccination date, and phase can be disclosed. The aim is for the public to know if the vaccine was properly supplied or not while, at the same time, safeguarding the data subjects’ right to privacy.

2. Public officials and employees: according to the AAIP, information as to who has received the COVID-19 vaccine should be deemed as public information because (i) public officials and employees have a lower expectation of privacy than other citizens; (ii) vaccines were purchased with public funds; and (iii) the public must have the power to control who is deemed as “strategic personnel” by the Argentine Government.

3. Individuals that have been vaccinated outside the scope of the official vaccination plan and phases provided under the plan: the AAIP sustains that the public interest in knowing who received irregular vaccination priority (meaning outside the scope of the official vaccination plan) outweighs any potential harm to the individual’s right to privacy (as provided by Laws No. 27,275 and No. 25,326). The AAIP claims that public oversight is only possible if the information that is being published is accurate, complete, and timely. This is because the vaccine is currently a scarce good; its supply is uncertain; and it has a direct impact on the pandemic.

The Guide can be accessed in Spanish here.