Monthly Update

May 2020 in Review

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In This Issue…

1. Message from the AIRA Board President
2. AIRA Board Directors Nominations and Officer Election Results
3. What's Making You Smile?
4. AIRA's COVID-19 Response Update
5. AIRA National Meeting Update
6. AIRA Board Corner: Christy Gray, Director
7. Measurement and Improvement: Is Your IIS Vendor Product Validated?
8. Recent Information Requests Added to the AIRA Repository
9. Steering Committee Updates: May Recap

Check Out the AIRA Events Calendar for Upcoming…

• Don't-Miss Deadlines
• AIRA Events
• Webinars
• Committee Meetings
• AIRA Board of Directors Meetings
• Partner Events

Message from the AIRA Board President

Dear Colleagues,

This has been a difficult year and an even more difficult past two weeks. IIS have increasingly been used to help identify communities that would benefit from additional public health support. This is an important first step in developing tailored, culturally-appropriate responses and improving health equity, but we must also personally and professionally do so much more to ensure equity. The death of George Floyd and the following protests have been a reminder of just how much work remains in ensuring equity throughout my state and our nation. The coming months will hopefully allow us to heal, listen, and learn from our neighbors. In that spirit of listening and learning, we want you to email AIRA at [email protected] with your thoughts on how AIRA and our IIS community can help change our country for the better.

Regards,
Aaron Bieringer
AIRA Board President
MIIC Interoperability Lead and Implementation Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Health

AIRA Board Directors Nominations and Officer Election Results

Nominations are open for four AIRA board directors, and we need your help to fill the positions! Please review the criteria and submit your nominations no later than Friday, June 19.

Per the AIRA bylaws, officers are elected by the AIRA board. AIRA is pleased to announce the following officer election results: 

• Christy Gray from the Virginia Department of Health was elected as the AIRA president-elect.
• Heather Roth from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment was re-elected to serve another term as AIRA treasurer.
• Aaron Bieringer from the Minnesota Department of Health was elected as the AIRA Governance Committee chair. Note: The board recently established this position as an officer role to ensure continuity between the AIRA board and the AIRA Governance Committee. The Governance Committee is a committee of the board that is responsible for ongoing review and recommendations to enhance the quality of the board. 

Congratulations Christy, Heather, and Aaron!

What's Making You Smile?

In these strange and difficult times, we want to take some time to reflect on what is making us smile. We would love to hear about what is making you smile. Send us a short blurb and picture!

AIRA's COVID-19 Response Update

Thank you for another month of working to balance the needs related to COVID-19 vaccine preparations and monitoring and addressing challenges with routine immunization disruptions, all while trying to adjust to the new normal that has impacted all of our personal lives. AIRA continues to work on behalf of the IIS community to support the role of IIS in the COVID-19 response. We encourage all awardees to read the CDC IIS Info Brief each week, as it will contain important information. AIRA will soon be launching a workgroup to provide feedback and input as plans move forward.

Our recently developed one-sheet, Tips for IIS: Preparing for a COVID-19 Vaccine, highlights specific strategies IIS can focus on, including onboarding providers, aligning with standards, addressing data exchange barriers, and expanding consumer access. AIRA’s Standards and Interoperability Steering Committee (SISC) has formed subcommittees to focus on specific topic areas, including priority groups and evidence of immunity relevant both for a COVID-19 response and longer-term IIS use. The Education Steering Committee is exploring priority topics for upcoming educational opportunities, including how states are using their IIS to address the drop in routine immunization highlighted in two recent MMWR reports. We are also working with national partners to discuss and advocate for policy change to facilitate the ability of IIS to carry out a large-scale public health response.

As you continue to move forward in your planning efforts, please reach out with ways AIRA can assist. You may find additional resources on our website and in AIRA’s resource repository, and we will continue to identify ways to provide support on an ongoing basis. With school out, or soon to be out, and summer beginning, we hope you can find time to catch your breath and balance this important public health response with some personal time.

Happy summer season.

AIRA National Meeting Update

Due to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, the AIRA National Meeting, scheduled for August 11–13, 2020, in Portland, has been postponed to 2021. The AIRA 2021 National Meeting will take place August 3–5, 2021, still in Portland, Oregon. Please save the date and mark your calendars now!

AIRA remains committed to helping the community come together and collaborate to advance IIS—even in the absence of a 2020 in-person meeting. Stay tuned for opportunities to connect and receive community updates this summer.

AIRA Board Corner: Christy Gray, Director

Title: Director, Division of Immunization

What I do: As immunization program manager in Virginia, I oversee the state immunization program, including multiple agency-wide programs and services related to childhood, adolescent, and adult immunization and vaccine-preventable disease epidemiology.

Organization's Name: Virginia Department of Health

Role(s) on AIRA board: I am a voting director and on the Governance Committee.

What do you like most about being on the AIRA board? I like contributing to the community and providing a different perspective from the bigger immunization program perspective.

What most excites you about the IIS community? I'm excited about how far the IIS community has come and the potential IIS have to improve public health in the future.

How does your involvement on the AIRA board bring value to your program? Serving on the AIRA board broadens my view of the different situations other awardees are in and provides relationship-building opportunities to learn from others.

What is your favorite recent movie, book, or podcast and why? It’s a brand new podcast, “Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald”, a "Scrubs" rewatch party with stars Zach Braff and Donald Faison, going through the episodes of "Scrubs" and providing background and stories of the making of the series.

What song would you play to get pumped up? I have a 5-year-old son, and for anyone with kids, check out "Raining Tacos" It's short and sweet but has a great beat and fun melody.

What is your motto? Nothing in this world that is worth having comes easy.

What’s your favorite vacation spot? Switzerland. I've only been there once, but it was an amazing time.

Measurement and Improvement: Is Your IIS Vendor Product Validated? 

AIRA and the members of MACAW (the Measurement for Assessment and Certification Advisory Workgroup) have heard from both individual IIS and IIS vendors about a desire to use results from independent testing to help IIS programs better align with national standards and inform the contracting and procurement processes. Increasingly, contracting language within the IIS community is requesting alignment with IIS functional standards. All Measurement and Improvement (M&I) content areas are driven by the IIS functional standards and provide results that can be shared to show alignment with standards. To support this process, AIRA has added an opportunity for vendors to test and validate their base product within the M&I Initiative. Participation in this process will allow individual IIS and IIS vendors to support each other in alignment with national standards. The results can be shared with current and potential IIS customers.

The Aggregate Analysis Reporting Tool (AART) will display basic and complete levels of Validation for IIS vendor base products. As indicated in the image below, validated products will have the word “Product” on the Validation badge to easily differentiate an IIS vendor product from individual IIS within AART.

However, please note that we recognize that testing results may differ between a base product and an installed instance of that product, depending on application configuration settings, hosting, and production environmental factors.

Questions? Want to participate? AIRA’s technical assistance team is ready to assist IIS vendors who would like to be measured and promote their base product’s alignment with national standards. Fill out a Technical Assistance Request or contact Kristi Siahaya for more information.

Recent Information Requests Added to the AIRA Repository

The recent Information Requests regarding the topics below can be found by using the “Information Requests” filter in AIRA repository.

• Validation and population of missing phone numbers in an IIS
• Electronic VFC enrollment process or dual electronic IIS and VFC enrollment process

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 membership coordinator Amanda Branham.

Steering Committee Updates: May Recap