Florida SHOTS receives the 2009 AIRA Center of Excellence Award
published by: Kim V.
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.
Real-Time Data Reporting
During the distribution of H1N1 vaccine in Florida, real-time statewide data reporting was generated from direct data entry and date upload from partners. The Florida SHOTS action plan ensured that statewide reporting was available to provide a rapid response to any question that arose regarding the status of the H1N1 campaign in Florida. However, reported doses administered were less than expected.
An Innovative Approach
Florida SHOTS streamlined the H1N1 vaccine delivery process by:
- Allowing online e-signed agreements for the 4,711 new providers
- Managing a rapid centralized vaccine allocation
- Ordering and dissemination of the H1N1 vaccine
- Creating a direct vaccine order file extract from Florida SHOTS daily for upload to VACMAN
- Allowing local control of vaccine allocation for rapid deployment of vaccine to areas with higher incidence of disease
Using Florida’s IIS, Florida SHOTS, for the H1N1 initiative proved successful as:
- More than 7 million doses of vaccine were allocated across the state.
- More than 5,000 ship-to sites registered to receive vaccine.
- More than 5 million doses were shipped throughout the state.
- Reports on the campaign status were available on a real-time basis, which facilitated leadership tracking of the campaign.
- For the first time in Florida, a centralized statewide system was used for efficient vaccine allocation and ordering in response to a pandemic threat.
Tags: AIRA Center of Excellence Award, awards, Charles Alexander, Susan Lincicome
