A recent article published in the Journal of Public Health Management Practice focuses on COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on Immunization Information Systems (IIS) operations. The authors present a balanced approach to support the immunization administration during future pandemics. JPHMP Direct has also showcased this article in a blog post, titled “The COVID-19 Pandemic and IIS Operations: Opportunities to Move Forward” and highlighted the key takeaways of the article. During the pandemic, the IISs captured the deployment of vaccines and provided near real-time surveillance data for COVID-19 vaccine uptake. The limitations and opportunities for the expansion of the IIS role are covered in detail in the article.
The article discussed some of the following key takeaways:
- Enormous demand from IIS for rapid and comprehensive information and data quality issues arising from it
- Increased expectations from IIS to provide near real-time surveillance data
- Importance of electronic data interoperability between providers and IIS
- Stability of funding in the post-pandemic period to improve the IIS functionality for it to be ready for future pandemics.