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Security report for vaccines.gov

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) · Healthcare · United States

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

Vaccines.gov is an official U.S. government website operated under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It provides a public service by helping users locate pharmacies offering vaccines across the United States. The site is positioned as a trusted source for vaccine information and pharmacy locations, targeting the general public seeking vaccination services. The business model is government-funded public health information dissemination, with no commercial intent. Technically, the website employs modern web technologies including React and Next.js frameworks, with integration of Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Adobe Launch for analytics and tracking. The site is mobile-optimized, fast-loading, and accessible, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure. The use of official .gov domain and CDC/HHS branding enhances trust and authority. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses secure form inputs. However, explicit security headers such as Content Security Policy and HSTS are not evident in the provided HTML content. Privacy compliance is strong with a comprehensive privacy policy linked from the CDC domain and a vulnerability disclosure policy available. No contact emails or phone numbers are explicitly listed, which is typical for government sites but may limit direct user support. No suspicious or malicious content was detected, and the site is not blocked by any WAF or security challenge. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and technical maturity suitable for a government public health platform. Strategic improvements include adding cookie consent mechanisms, explicit security headers, and clearer contact information for incident response to further enhance security posture and user trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching vaccines.gov

This scan found 17 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
100
Security headers
70
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
53
Average
79

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Vaccines.gov operates as a critical public health resource under the CDC and HHS umbrella, serving as a centralized vaccine pharmacy locator for the U.S. population. Its market position is unique as an authoritative government platform with no direct commercial competition. The business model focuses on public service and information dissemination rather than revenue generation. The site leverages partnerships with CDC and HHS, and integrates third-party analytics tools for performance monitoring. Growth indicators include continuous updates (version 14.12.0) and integration with Google APIs for location data. The platform's ecosystem is tightly coupled with government health agencies, ensuring credibility and reliability.

Security posture

The security maturity of Vaccines.gov is solid, with HTTPS enforced and secure handling of user input in forms. The presence of a vulnerability disclosure policy indicates proactive security management. However, the absence of explicit security headers in the HTML content suggests room for improvement in defense-in-depth strategies. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected. Privacy compliance is well addressed through comprehensive policies. Incident response contact details are not explicitly provided, which could be enhanced. Overall, the site maintains a secure posture appropriate for a government health information platform but should consider additional security headers and clearer incident response channels.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Frame-Options to strengthen security posture.
  2. Add a cookie consent banner or mechanism to comply with privacy regulations and enhance user transparency.
  3. Publish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting and improve incident response readiness.
  4. Provide explicit contact information for security incidents and general inquiries to improve user support and trust.
  5. Enhance accessibility features to meet or exceed WCAG standards for broader inclusivity.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Description
Vaccines.gov helps you find nearby pharmacies in the United States.
Key services
Pharmacy locator for vaccines, Vaccine information dissemination
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Font Awesome, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Adobe Launch
Frameworks
Next.js
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure form input for ZIP code

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Adobe Launch
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Adobe Launch
Marketing tools
Adobe Launch
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Official U.S. government vaccine locator website
  2. Content is accessible and not blocked by WAF
  3. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly listed on main page
  4. Privacy and vulnerability disclosure policies linked to official government domains
  5. No cookie consent mechanism detected
  6. Uses modern web technologies and analytics tools
  7. No suspicious or malicious content detected
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using a modern React-based framework (Next.js), enabling server-side rendering and optimized performance. It uses Font Awesome for icons and integrates Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Adobe Launch for analytics and tracking. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and good SEO practices including meta tags and Open Graph data. No CMS is explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or government-managed platform. Hosting provider details are not evident from the HTML content. Performance is fast with asynchronous loading of scripts and preloading of critical resources. Technical debt appears low, but adding security headers and cookie consent would improve compliance and security.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

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