No, HIPAA doesn’t prohibit businesses from asking about your vaccination status

Misinformation is spreading on social media claiming that businesses aren’t allowed to ask customers if they’ve received a COVID-19 vaccine because it would violate health privacy laws. 

But that’s wrong, and some posts making these claims have been flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Consumer privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 — better known as HIPAA — are implemented with what’s called the Privacy Rule.