JUNE 7, 2023

Summer has arrived!

With the passing of Memorial Day, for many this means the end of another school year and time to enjoy warmer weather. For AIRA, this is a time to reflect on previous events and prepare for events to come.

Reflecting on May
It’s not possible to reflect on May without pausing to celebrate the AIRA 2023 National Meeting, which broke all previous attendance records and was filled with joyful reunions and introductions. And right after #AIRA2023, the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit (NAIIS) was held May 9–11 in Atlanta, Georgia. The NAIIS is a multi-sector coalition of organizations working toward increasing uptake of ACIP-recommended adult vaccines and influenza vaccines for all ages. Over 130 public and private organizations participate in NAIIS initiatives. This year’s keynote featured Dr. Jose Romero, the director of the National Center for Infections and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and highlighted the Immunization Landscape: Lessons Learned and Our Focus. Additional topics that were addressed throughout the meeting included federal adult vaccine policy, vaccine communication and messaging, partnering with community-based organizations, vaccine equity, IIS infrastructure, and the vaccine development pipeline. A link to the agenda and presentations can be found here. 

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) held an inaugural hybrid Public Health TechXpo May 23–25 in Chicago, Illinois. The TechXpo is an annual convening of public health leaders and experts across the technology, professional services, financial, workforce, and related sectors. The opening plenary, Transforming Our Nation’s Health Infrastructure: A Conversation with Federal Health Leaders, featured a discussion on the current opportunities to advance and modernize the public health workforce and data systems. Many of the sessions were focused on the public health workforce, data modernization, and health equity. The meeting concluded with a call to action regarding the powerful opportunity for public health to emerge stronger and more resilient in the years to come.
 
Prior to the TechXpo kickoff, ASTHO hosted the IDEAS Learning Community Workshop with the ONC Ideas project awardees and TA partners to discuss current and future projects. As part of the state-specific project, ASTHO published Immunization Information Systems and Health Information Exchanges and Legal Landscape of Public Health Data; providing health, data, technology, and policy leaders with context and considerations for enhancing data sharing to advance population health.

Looking forward
If you were unable to attend the AIRA 2023 National Meeting or sit in on all the presentations you had hoped to, don’t fret! The #AIRA2023 presentation slides are now available. You can search for a topic of interest in the AIRA repository or use the meeting agenda to easily navigate to your desired presentation. We hope you spend some time reviewing all the great content.

During these summer months, the Immunization Integration Program (IIP) is hard at work converting the IIP test plan into a modular format, and through the IIP Collaborative, it is recruiting partners to collaborate with on pre-submission data validation. To work with the IIP team, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Mark your calendars. The first in-person AIRA Regional Workshop since 2020 is coming up July 11–12, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. AIRA is providing colleagues from jurisdictions in the Midwest (AIRA Region 3) with the opportunity to hear from national experts on the latest IIS developments and engage in interactive sessions and collaborative discussions. There is limited space for attendees from outside Region 3. If you are interested in attending or have any questions regarding the workshop, please reach out to Courtnay Londo at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday, June 9. And last but not least, register and join us on June 26 for our next Discovery Session and learn about how other jurisdictions are using IIS data to address health equity.

We will keep you posted with more of our summer events as information becomes available.

I hope you are able to spend some time with your family enjoying this warm weather. 

Rebecca Coyle, MSEd
Executive Director

AIRA members can submit and review information requests—a circulation of questions to and answers from the community. 

Information requests are viewable only by individual members and individuals affiliated with member and partner organizations. Recent information requests can be found by using the “Information Requests” filter in the AIRA repository. Just log in to view these valuable resources! If you have any questions, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Washington State Department of Health is searching for information regarding the following:

• IIS programs in which the informatics/data analytics team is embedded within the IIS team (as opposed to being separate teams). Washington would like to gather input from any states with this infrastructure.
• Washington state has changed the forecasting settings for HPV so children at age 9 prompts “due now” for the HPV vaccination. They are wondering if any other state has the forecasting setting changed to age 9 for HPV. 

If you are willing to share information, please reach out to the Washington State Department of Health at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Wednesday, June 14, and don’t forget to include your contact information for follow-up.

The American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA) is hosting a regional workshop that will include colleagues from jurisdictions in the Midwest region (AIRA Region 3) of the United States. This one-and-a-half-day in-person workshop will be held July 11–12, 2023, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee. We anticipate that there will be limited space for additional attendees. The registration fee for additional attendees is $275, and travel support is not available at this time. All members of the IIS community are welcome to express interest, but IIS jurisdictions and implementers will be given priority. 

If you would like to attend, please respond to this email to express your interest by Friday, June 9. We will review requests and be in touch as soon as possible. Please email Courtnay Londo at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any questions.

Join us for the next AIRA Discovery Session on Monday, June 26 at 4 p.m. ET to hear about how jurisdictions are using IIS data to address health equity. The webinar will feature two presentations from IIS jurisdictions and will also include time for questions and discussion.

Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email which contains links to add the meeting to your calendar.

If you’re unable to attend, this session will be recorded and available in the AIRA repository.

The Immunization Integration Program created the IIP Vaccine-Related Code Sets Data Collection Tool to identify gaps and areas for improvement and to better understand the process of updating immunization-related coded values in your data systems. The data collection tool will be open until this Friday, June 9, 2023.

Your responses will be kept anonymous, shared with the CDC code set team, and used to inform a vaccine-related code set landscape analysis and recommendations.

Thank you in advance for your time and participation in this important effort. Please let us know if you have any questions by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The IIP is recruiting partners to collaborate with on pre-submission data validation. Employing strategies like providing data entry training, adopting business rules aligned to IIS requirements, and fostering communication among data exchange partners can help improve successful submission and data quality. Contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn more!

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The Immunization Integration Program (IIP) is busy this summer converting the IIP test plan into a modular format. The IIP Testing & Recognition initiative offers EHR vendors the opportunity to validate their product’s immunization functionality and is an alternative testing method to achieve ONC’s (f)(1) Transmission to immunization registries certification. Leveraging the current test plan’s consensus-based content, the IIP is reorganizing the capabilities into topic-specific modules that can be tested individually or together to span immunization data exchange functionality. Modularization goals include providing EHR vendors with testing flexibility, streamlining the testing process, and supporting IIP-recognized vendors who seek to test product updates or IIP test plan additions to maintain IIP recognition. Stay tuned for more details! 

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