Israel’s government passed a law this week that would allow for sensitive information about the coronavirus vaccination of its citizens to be shared with other authorities; namely those opting out inoculation.
The measure, passed by a 30-13 vote, allows local governments, the director general of the education ministry and some in the welfare ministry to receive not just the names of unvaccinated citizens but also addresses and phone numbers.
The new law’s objective is said “to enable these bodies to encourage people to vaccinate by personally addressing them.” It’s said to be in effect for three months or until the pandemic is declared over.
Roughly one-third of Israel’s nine million people have already been vaccinated.
The country is lifting lockdown restrictions to the fully vaccinated only, which includes access to gyms and indoor dining. That, along with privacy issues, has raised concerns about those exercising their right to opt out of inoculation.
The parliament issued a statement saying the personal information will be used solely to encourage people to get vaccinated. The law also states “The information will be deleted after its use within 60 days.” and “a person who was contacted can demand that his details be deleted and that they not be contacted again.”
Israeli has had 760,000 coronavirus cases with over 5,600 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.