Asked by a CBS news reporter is she’s been vaccinated and if she agrees with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise’s assessment that the vaccine is safe and effective, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (Q-Georgia) helpfully points out, “Well, your first question is a violation of my HIPAA right. You see, with HIPAA rights, we don’t have to reveal our medical records, and that also involves our vaccine records.”
That’s not what HIPAA–the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996–actually says. It wasn’t being demanded that she disclose her vaccine status to gain some benefit or right; someone was simply asking her a question. She could easily just say, “I don’t want to answer that; it’s none of your business” and be done with it.
Plus, HIPAA actually *does* allow you to be required to release your medical history in certain circumstances–like if you’re going to get certain types of jobs, join the military, or even drive a car.
[Update 5:44 p.m. ET: Greene later goes on to say that healthy people don’t need to get the vaccine, at which time another reporter notes that children and “skinny people” are dying of the coronavirus. That prompted Greene to giggle heartily and comment, “Gee, you crack me up.”]