September 2021 in Review

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In This Issue:

1. Executive Director's Update
2. AIRA Discovery Session: Interoperability Course
3. Measurement and Improvement Updates
4. Information Requests
5. Committee and Workgroup Updates: September Recap
6. AIRA Job Opportunities
7. AIRA in the News - September 2021

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• Webinars
• Committee Meetings
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Greetings,

It’s hard to believe it was only a year ago that we were anticipating the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine and starting to implement vaccine response plans. A year later we’re anxiously waiting for the review and approval of a vaccine for young children, all while working to make sure immunocompromised people get a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine and looking at booster doses for other populations. What a difference a year makes, though there’s still so much more work to do when it comes to pandemic response.

We recently shared resources for leveraging reminder/recall in IIS for any vaccine, including routine immunizations and COVID-19 vaccine. Resources are comprised of a guide and toolkit for implementing centralized IIS-based reminder/recall, recordings of a three-part AIRA-hosted webinar series introducing the centralized reminder/recall toolkit, and a Modeling of Immunization Registry Operations Workgroup (MIROW) guide on reminder/recall in IIS. These resources and more are available in the AIRA repository, and we encourage you to take a look.

SMART Health Card vaccine credentials are live in many electronic health record patient portals. Both Cerner and Epic have launched the technology within their patient portals, and more systems are moving toward adding these credentials. AIRA is working on a draft statement in support of SMART Health Card technology as one standard to help the public access their and their family’s immunization records. We support the generation of these QR codes, as they help move us away from paper records to a secure digital format. We continue to gather and document common terminology and references in the Vaccine Credentials: Context and Working Definitions for IIS working guide. AIRA is in the process of updating the guide as we learn more about vaccine credentialing solutions.

IIS modernization continues to be a hot topic and we all know that fully modernized and implemented IIS are essential to supporting immunization information needs locally and nationally. There’s also an expectation for IIS to function as one nationwide network of systems to ensure complete and secure data capture and share immunization information.

Personally, I’m anxiously awaiting the approval of a COVID-19 vaccine for younger children. Until my kiddos are vaccinated, I’m not taking any deep breaths. I’m very curious to see how the rest of 2021 plays out and ultimately, what lessons we can take from this part of our history and apply to future pandemics. As we continue to move further into the pandemic and its new phases, please let us know how we can continue to support you and your teams.

Rebecca Coyle, MSEd

Executive Director

The next AIRA Discovery Session will introduce participants to AIRA’s Interoperability Course. This course was designed in response to community needs to support staff working on IIS interoperability topics. During this Discovery Session, participants will learn about the course format, hear from participants of the first edition of the course, and get a preview of the course module on Connecting Systems, which officially starts on November 3. The next Discovery Session is on Monday, October 25, at 4 p.m. ET. Register today! If you’re unable to attend, this session will be recorded and available in the AIRA repository.

New AART user interface coming soon!
AIRA and members of the Measurement for Assessment and Certification Advisory Workgroup (MACAW) are excited to announce the rollout of a new user interface (UI) for the Aggregate Analysis Reporting Tool (AART)! The fresh and modern redesign in AART is slated for deployment in early 2022, but the list of new features is too exciting not to share now. While this list is not all-inclusive, many of the enhancements are below. The new UI includes:

• Updated technology and user experience to improve the look and feel of AART
• A left navigation pane to seamlessly access all content areas
• Drill-through text that appears as blue hyperlinks to access Testing and Discovery, Assessment, and Validation reports in one click
• Filtering capabilities that allow the user to select or deselect basic and complete validation levels
• Categorization of content areas to improve navigation and reduce unnecessary mouse clicks
• Toggle ability within the same screen to allow the IIS admin to manage both Measurement and Sharing settings and authorized users

Updated reports
For the third quarter of 2021, individual IIS Assessment and Validation reports are available and can be found by logging in to AART. Updated aggregate Assessment and the second quarter of 2021 Validation reports are also published in the AIRA repository.

Have questions, want to participate, or need help? AIRA’s technical assistance team is ready to help you understand your Aggregate Analysis Reporting Tool dashboard and results, prioritize work, and support your movement toward better alignment with standards. Don’t hesitate to contact us for technical assistance. We can quickly answer a question or dive deeper into topics, such as assisting you and your IIS technical development team with better understanding of issues and making plans to more fully align with standards. Fill out a Technical Assistance Request or contact Shalena Prude for more information.

AIRA members can submit and review information requests—a circulation of questions to and answers from the community. Recent information requests on the topics below can be found by using the “Information Requests” filter in the AIRA repository.

• Military, Veterans’ Administration, and/or Indian Health Services Data Sharing
• WHO-approved COVID-19 Vaccines in IIS

Information requests are viewable only by individual members and individuals affiliated with member and partner organizations. 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..

Modeling of Immunization Registry Operations Workgroup (MIROW)

• MIROW met on September 24.
• The workgroup voted to update the two existing MIROW guides on data quality (Data Quality Assurance in IIS: Incoming Data and Data Quality Assurance in Immunization Information Systems:  Selected Aspects). At the September meeting, MIROW received an update on the status of the project.
• The next MIROW meeting is October 21, 2021, from 4 to 5 p.m. ET.

SmartyStreets User Group

• The SmartyStreets User Group met on September 15.
• The user group received an update about the now-completed US Rooftop Geocoding pilot and heard Rhode Island and New Mexico’s perspectives as pilot participants.
• New Mexico also shared how it uses SmartyStreets via the Command-Line Interface.
• The next user group meeting is November 17, 2021, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET.

Standards and Interoperability Steering Committee (SISC)

• The SISC met on September 8 and September 22.
• Paloma Hawry gave an update on code sets at both meetings.
• The SISC received an update about the HL7 Immunization User Group and SISC small groups from Nathan Bunker.
• The steering committee discussed code set implementation as well as IIS Code Set Web Services.
• The Food and Drug Administration presented on IIS data requests.
• Eric Larson updated the steering committee on current guidance and activities for managing clinical trial vaccines.
• The next committee meeting is October 13, 2021, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET.

Tableau User Group (TUG)

• TUG met on September 28.
• Jake Kohler from Lovelytics provided an immunization dashboard makeover.
• TUG meetings will now be held every other month.
• The next user group meeting is November 23, 2021, from noon to 1 p.m. ET.

NOTE: Meeting minutes will capture only action items and decisions made. Recordings of the meetings can be obtained directly upon request by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Are you interested in working for AIRA or in the IIS community? Find current job openings at AIRA and other states/jurisdictions on the Employment Opportunities and Requests for Proposals page on the AIRA website.

• There are no opportunities at this time.

Opportunities for independent contractors

Sign up to get notifications of future contracting opportunities.

• There are no opportunities at this time.

• Who will be able to get a COVID-19 booster shot and when? That’s still in limbo., USA Today, September 13 | Quoted: Rebecca Coyle
• Epic launches vaccine credential effort, Politico Pro, September 16 | Quoted: Rebecca Coyle