MEiN got information from MZ on vaccinations of university teachers, students and doctoral students. UODO has initiated proceedings....

January 26, 2022. The Ombudsman has asked the Minister of Education and Science to clarify the circumstances under which the Minister of Higher Education and Science obtained detailed data of university teachers, students and doctoral students with information on being vaccinated. 

The letter raised concerns that the Minister of Higher Education and Science may have had access to detailed health data. This is sensitive data, for which the Constitution provides the highest degree of protection. And no law authorizes the minister of education and science to access such data. Thus, there may have been a violation of the constitutional principle of legalism, according to which authorities act on the basis and within the limits of the law.

Minister Przemyslaw Czarnek wrote back on February 10, 2022, that at no stage of the verification of the vaccination levels of members of the university communities did the ministry have access to detailed data of a sensitive nature to identify individuals. The ministry only obtained statistical data on the level of inoculation in the universities, and therefore anonymous data.

MEiN explained that on the initiative of the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools of Poland, on December 21, 2021, the ministers of education and health entered into a cooperation agreement to obtain statistical information on the level of COVID vaccination in this academic community.

However, as the ROP points out in its letter to the PUODO, the MEiN's explanations show that it collated data contained in two different registers and combined them by PESEL number - to see which people in these groups are vaccinated and which are not.

The data were transferred on behalf of the Ministry of the Economy from the POL-on Integrated Information System for Higher Education and Science to the Electronic Platform for Collection, Analysis and Sharing of Digital Resources on Medical Events. 

- This occurred on the basis of an agreement, and therefore without a legal basis under the law," Marcin Wiącek stresses.

Therefore, he asks President Jan Nowak for a position and information on the steps taken.

Response from Katarzyna Hildebrandt, deputy director of the Inspection and Infringement Department of the Office for the Protection of Human Rights (UODO)

With reference to previous correspondence regarding case number VII.501.12.2022.KSZ, i.e. the processing of personal data by the Minister of Education and Science (now: Minister of Science) and the Minister of Health, I would like to inform you that by a decision dated January 10 this year. (DKN.5110.3.2022), the President of the Office for the Protection of Personal Data issued a warning to the Minister of Science and the Minister of Health for violation by the aforementioned controllers of the provisions of Article 5(1)(a) and (b) in conjunction with Article 6(1), Article 9(2) and Article 28(3) of Regulation 2016/6791, consisting in:

processing in an unauthorized manner and incompatible with the purpose of personal data of academics, doctoral students and students in the field of vaccination against COVID-19

and entrusting the aforementioned data through a Cooperation Agreement dated December 21, 2021 between the Minister of Health and the Minister of Education and Science, which did not constitute a contract or other legal instrument, pursuant to Article 28(3) of Regulation 2016/679.

The decision is final, the parties are entitled to file a complaint against the decision of the Provincial Administrative Court. 

Source: RPO