Florida SHOTS™: Keeping SHOTS in Check

Florida’s online immunization registry safeguards shot records for a patient’s entire lifespan. Florida SHOTS stores immunization records from birth until end of life. not only do we store and track your child and adult patients’ immunization records, the registry also identifies patients’ previously reported contraindications, facilitates the introduction of new vaccinations, and generates immunization reports.

Spread the word: Florida SHOTS is not just for pediatricians!

The Florida Department of Health received an award based on their ranking in the National Immunization Survey (NIS). Florida placed second in the nation among all states ranked by percentage of children complete for the 4:3:1:3:3:1 series (4 Dtap, 3 polio, 1 MMR, 3 haemophilus influenzae, 3 hepatitis B, and 1 pnemocococcal conjugate) for the survey conducted in 2008/2009.

The NIS is sponsored by the National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) and conducted jointly by NCIRD and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The NIS is a list-assisted random-digit-dialing telephone survey followed by a mailed survey to children’s immunization providers that monitor childhood immunization coverage. Since 1994, states have been ranked by NCIRD for high coverage levels by particular vaccination series completion in children age 19 to 35 months.

The significance of high immunization coverage levels is extremely important in the ongoing challenge to ensure that morbidity and mortality from vaccine-preventable disease incidence remains at an all-time historical low.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director NCIRD, CDC; Sherry Riddick, President AIRA; Mara Ohrt (Alaska); Amy Metroka and Dr. Jane Zucker (NYC); Susan Lincicome, Director Florida SHOTS; and Charles Alexander, Bureau Chief of Florida Bureau of Immunization.

The American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA) awarded Florida SHOTS with the 2009 AIRA Center of Excellence (COE) Award during the opening plenary of the 44th National Immunization Conference (NIC) in April. The criteria for this year’s award centered on data reporting, vaccine management and provider participation in immunization information systems (IIS) during the H1N1 2009 influenza epidemic.

Rising to the Challenge
The Florida Department of Health needed to be able to rapidly order and distribute a projected 15 million doses of H1N1 vaccine to an estimated 8,100 ship-to sites. Florida’s IIS, Florida SHOTS, was identified as the only statewide system with the capability to accomplish real-time allocation and ordering of the H1N1 vaccine. By adapting the Florida SHOTS system, we were able to efficiently and quickly use the registry to accomplish these ordering and distribution tasks.

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