Employer knows in one click which Brussels resident has not been vaccinated
If you are domiciled in Brussels, your employer, your insurer or your bank can see in an instant whether you have been vaccinated or not.
A national register number and a zip code. That’s all you need to know whether a resident of Brussels has been vaccinated or not. If you provide those two details on the Brussels registration platform for vaccinations, Bruvax, you see click whether another one can be captured or not. If it is still possible, the vaccination has not yet taken place.
Charter21, a non-profit organization founded during the lockdown and fighting for privacy and fundamental rights, sent a letter to the Brussels Community Commission (GGC) on Monday evening with the urgent request to ‘end the data breach immediately’. The Bruvax platform is the responsibility of the GGC.
The essence
- If you are in possession of someone’s national registration number and zip code, you can see whether someone has been vaccinated or not on the Bruvax platform, the Brussels registration platform for vaccinations.
- Charta21, a non-profit organization denouncing the case, is calling for an “immediate end to the data breach.”
- The Brussels Joint Community Commission chose not to respond yet.
‘Many organizations have the national registration number of their employees’ customers,’ says Charta21 chairman Hubert Petre. ‘It concerns employers, bankers, insurers and municipal employees. With the national number at hand, the registry is easy to see if someone has been vaccinated or not. A blatant violation of privacy and a data breach of medical data.’
Accessible
The Bruvax tool was adopted by the GGC in mid-March and replaced the federal application platform. You can choose a vaccination center with only a name, national register number and zip code. By making the procedure possible, Brussels would make an injection so simple and people the chance to register an (older) family member.
Many organizations have the National Register Number of their employees’ customers. This concerns employers, bankers, insurers and municipal employees.
The approach worked, slowly but surely. In addition to many others – injection boxes, mobile vaccination teams and a DJ who came to brighten things up – the vaccination rate in the capital climbed to 71 percent in the extended months. In June, Brussels did not even reach half.
The downside of this low threshold is that anyone in possession of a national register number of a Brussels resident can see whether or not they received a shot.
The GGC declined to comment. The services concerned are on leave due to King’s Day and would like to ‘view the letter with the services and persons concerned’, says Fatima Boudjaoui, the spokeswoman for the Covid-19 cell of the Joint Community Commission.
controlling employers
Brussels has just passed the 70 percent vaccination rate. This is low compared to Flanders (93%) and Wallonia (83%). There is a problem in the Brussels retirement homes. At the end of September, only 67 percent of the Brussels staff in the retirement homes appeared to have received an injection.
For the director of a residential care center of a hospital, it is possible with one click on the Bruvax platform to check which of his Brussels staff has not been vaccinated. This also applies to the insurer or bank manager. In the most extreme case, situations based on their vaccination status or are performed.
Bruvax a loophole in the discussion about the corona pass in the workplace. The privacy legislation still prohibits employers from inquiring about the vaccination status of their staff. One, in the form of a corona pass, is not allowed by labor law. And if certainly not if there are punishments of rewards to grounds.