(a) The department, for purposes of establishing and maintaining a single repository of accurate, complete, and current vaccination records to be used in aiding, coordinating, and promoting effective and cost-efficient childhood disease prevention and control efforts, shall establish and maintain a childhood vaccination registry.

(b) Any person who administers a vaccine or vaccines licensed for use in children by the United States Food and Drug Administration to a child under the age of 18 shall for each such vaccination provide to the department such data as are deemed by the department to be necessary and appropriate for purposes of the vaccination registry established pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section, including, without limitation:

(1) The name of the child;

(2) The child's date and place of birth, including the name of the hospital where delivered, if applicable;

(3) The names and addresses of the child's parents or guardians;

(4) The date of the vaccination and the specific type or types of vaccine or vaccines administered to the child on that date; and

(5) Complications or side effects resulting from a vaccination, if any.

Vaccination data reporting requirements, including without limitation the types of data required to be reported and the time and manner of reporting such data, shall begin after the registry has established linkages to vaccine providers and shall be established by the department in consultation with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Georgia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians.

(c) The department shall utilize the registry to provide notices, whether by mail, telephone, personal contact, or other means, to parents or guardians regarding their children or wards who are due or overdue for a particular type of vaccination according to recommended vaccination schedules. The department shall consult with medical services providers to determine the most effective and efficient manner of using the registry to provide such notices.

(d) Vaccination records for any child included within the vaccination registry shall be maintained as part of the registry until the child reaches the age of 18.

(e) Individually identifiable vaccination information regarding a child may be provided to the department by, or released by the department to, a local health department, hospital, physician, or other provider of medical services to the child or to a school or child care facility in which the child is enrolled without the consent of the child's parents or guardians. All children shall be enrolled unless a specific exemption is requested by the child's parent or guardian. A parent or guardian may obtain and upon request to the department shall be provided with all individually identifiable vaccination registry information regarding his or her child or ward. Except as provided otherwise by this Code section, individually identifiable vaccination registry information shall be treated as confidential and shall not be released to a third party without consent of a child's parent or guardian.

(f) Nothing in this Code section shall:

(1) Prohibit the department from providing or publishing registry information in aggregate form for scientific, educational, or public health purposes, provided that such information is published without releasing or identifying individual names contained in the registry;

(2) Prohibit the department or any medical services provider from notifying a parent, guardian, or child of the child's vaccination status or of a vaccination that is due or overdue according to recommended vaccination schedules; or

(3) Diminish a parent's or guardian's responsibility for having a child vaccinated properly.

(g) Any person, including but not limited to practitioners of the healing arts, submitting or obtaining in good faith vaccination reports or data to or from the department in compliance with the provisions of this Code section and any rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to this Code section shall not be liable for any civil damages therefor.

(h) The department is authorized to accept any grants, gifts, awards, and funds from government, public, and private sources to supplement any appropriation made for the purpose of funding the provisions of this Code section.

(i) The department is authorized and directed to promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary and appropriate to implement the provisions of this Code section.