Monthly Update

November 2020 in Review

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In This Issue…

1. AIRA's COVID-19 Response Update
2. 2021 AIRA National Meeting Update
3. AIRA Website - Open During Remodel!
4. ACIP Meetings on COVID-19 Vaccines
5. A SmartyStreets Milestone
6. Measurement and Improvement Updates
7. AIRA Board Corner: Katie Cruz, Director
8. National, Multi-Stakeholder Collaborative Unifies Around Common Standard for Transport of Immunization Messages
9. Information Requests
10. Committee and Workgroup Updates: November Recap
11. AIRA Job Opportunities
12. In the News - November 2020

Check Out the AIRA Events Calendar for Upcoming…

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

AIRA's COVID-19 Response Update

Greetings,

When I started at AIRA 10 years ago, I could not have predicted the attention our organization and IIS would receive as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. I did not anticipate waking up to do an interview on CNN about the role of IIS in vaccine distribution or be quoted on the front page of The New York Times. These realities are reminders of the important work the entire IIS community does to build confidence in our immunization infrastructure, and they highlight the value of IIS in the vaccine response. Despite the stress of these times, IIS have come a long way and are proven, reliable systems that can be used to prepare for and respond to the challenges ahead.

November was marked with promising news on the vaccine development front, which instilled even more urgency in the work you all have taken on to prepare for the initial days of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. CDC has prioritized a number of focus areas for readiness, such as ensuring COVID-19 provider agreements are reflected within the IZ Data Lake, providers are entered into VTrckS, CDC’s data use agreement is signed and submitted, and data test file extracts are submitted to the COVID-19 Clearinghouse. AIRA has dedicated as many resources as possible to support these preparations, particularly providing technical assistance to states to get ready to submit data extracts and prepare for later phases of reporting vaccine administration data. AIRA continues to collaborate daily with partners on the national and international level to promote IIS and infrastructure needs related to the COVID-19 vaccine response. AIRA also continues to attend Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meetings (see a summary of the November 23 and December 1 ACIP meetings below).

The closer we get to the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine, the more information and details are being released by CDC related to all aspects of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, allocation, administration, documentation, and reporting. You can stay on top of the latest resources and guidance by looking at CDC’s SharePoint site; subscribing to the weekly IIS Info Brief email; and participating in planning calls, office hours, and other opportunities to receive answers to your questions. As always, I encourage you to stay connected with AIRA about how we can support you in the vaccine planning and implementation phases, as well as for your routine work.

On behalf of all of us at AIRA, I want to express immense gratitude to the commitment demonstrated by the IIS community and partners in the COVID-19 vaccine response. This will truly impact the entire country. I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday and were able to take a moment to catch your breath.

Rebecca Coyle, MSEd
Executive Director

2021 AIRA National Meeting Update

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and travel/large gathering restrictions, AIRA postponed our 2020 National Meeting. We’ve been busy thinking about how to plan for a National Meeting in 2021 that takes into consideration the safety of our members and the IIS community plus workloads that have already increased and are sure to get even heavier after COVID-19 vaccine starts to be distributed. While we do plan to have a meeting in 2021, we still don’t know if it will be in person, virtual, or a mix of both.

One decision we have made about next year’s meeting is regarding abstracts. We understand you’re under a lot of pressure and we want to avoid placing any additional burden on you, so there will not be a traditional call for abstracts as in previous years. AIRA is working to create a meeting agenda that will give you the opportunity to collaborate with your peers in the IIS community to advance IIS together. Stay tuned for more information on our planning work and ways you can help us achieve our goals of collaboration at the AIRA 2021 National Meeting.

As we move forward with our planning, we’d love to hear from you and get your input. If you have any suggestions or questions about the AIRA 2021 National Meeting, email Carmela Gupta.

AIRA Website - Open During Remodel!

In response to the wonderful input we received from the IIS community in our recent user experience project, we are remodeling the AIRA website. You may have noticed some changes already. We hope this reorganization will ultimately make the website more intuitive to navigate. If you have trouble finding anything, please email us at [email protected]. Over the next year, we will continue to work on the website, which will include creating more content about IIS and their important role in public health. We hope this new content will help tie together our many resources and provide a comprehensive overview of IIS for new members of our community.

ACIP November and December Meetings on COVID-19 Vaccines

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met twice in the past month to discuss COVID-19 vaccines.

November 23, 2020, Meeting
ACIP members discussed the Evidence to Recommendations framework for COVID-19 vaccines. The framework is intended to provide a structure to evaluate information and develop ACIP vaccine recommendations. The framework also provides transparency into the decision-making process. Members discussed six of the seven domains of the framework, which are public health problems, values, acceptability, feasibility, resource use, and equity. The committee will wait until Phase 3 clinical trial data is released to discuss the benefits and harms domain. Once Phase 3 clinical trial data and a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision are available, ACIP will complete the framework for each specific vaccine.

Members also discussed a proposed interim Phase 1 sequence that included:

• Phase 1a: Health care personnel, long-term care facility residents
• Phase 1b: Essential workers (e.g., education, food and agriculture, utilities, police, firefighters, correction officers, transportation)
• Phase 1c: Adults with high-risk medical conditions, adults aged 65 and older

There was not a vote at the meeting to create vaccine recommendations. An article in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report was also released on November 23 about the ethical principles ACIP is using to direct allocation of initial supplies of COVID-19 vaccine.

December 1, 2020, Meeting
ACIP members discussed allocation of initial supplies of COVID-19 vaccine and clinical considerations for populations included in Phase 1a. Members voted to recommend that “when a COVID-19 vaccine is authorized by FDA and recommended by ACIP, vaccination in the initial phase of the COVID-19 vaccination program (Phase 1a) should be offered to both: (1) health care personnel and (2) residents of long-term care facilities.”

While ACIP does not have a date for its next meeting, the committee plans to meet after the Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee convenes on December 10, 2020.

A SmartyStreets Milestone

As of November 2020, 32 jurisdictions have signed a Partner Agreement for SmartyStreets and are licensed to use the service. That’s half of the IIS community!

Since 2017, AIRA and CDC have offered access to SmartyStreets for all member IIS programs at no cost. The SmartyStreets service provides address validation, standardization, and geocoding at lightning fast speeds.

Even in the midst of the current pandemic, seven jurisdictions have signed up to use the SmartyStreets service. In addition, one IIS vendor has signed a Partner Agreement, and others are working to implement SmartyStreets into IIS vendor platforms. We applaud jurisdictions as they put tools in place to improve their data quality ahead of the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

There are also numerous IIS in the process of researching SmartyStreets. We look forward to working with many more IIS interested in using SmartyStreets in the year to come.

How can SmartyStreets help your jurisdiction with data quality? Want to know more about SmartyStreets? Contact Tesha Lucas for more information.

Measurement and Improvement Updates

Virtual AART Clinics Wrapping Up
The AIRA team is wrapping up 20 virtual Aggregate Analysis Reporting Tool (AART) clinics, where jurisdictions reviewed their AART testing results and discussed practical recommendations for improvements. The clinics also offered an opportunity to review the new M&I: COVID-19 Standards Alignment Report, which evaluates how each IIS performs with regard to the most important measures for the COVID-19 vaccine response.

If you haven’t done so already, please contact Assiatou Diallo to review your AART and COVID-19 vaccine readiness report.

Technical Assistance Offerings – Pilot Interoperability Course
The AIRA technical team is working on an interoperability training course to assist jurisdictions in onboarding IIS technical staff. We will conduct a pilot training session in January 2021. Email Assiatou Diallo to participate in this pilot.

Preliminary COVID-19 HL7 Reporting Guidance
Two preliminary guidance documents containing definitions, standards, and test cases are available in the AIRA repository. One guide addresses population group and tier allocation, and the second addresses serologic results as proof of immunity.

 AIRA Board Corner: Kathryn (Katie) Cruz, Director

Title: New Mexico Statewide Immunization Information System (NMSIIS) Manager

What I do: As the NMSIIS manager, I plan, organize, direct, and evaluate programmatic and IIS operations.

Organization’s name: New Mexico Department of Health

Role on the AIRA board: Director

What do you like most about being on the AIRA board? I like being involved in the planning, decision making, and problem solving of tasks and efforts that will affect all of our daily operations and opportunities.

What excites you most about the IIS community? How cohesive the community is. It’s amazing that jurisdictions are so willing to support and advise each other.

What is one go-to resource you use to support your IIS work? The AIRA repository. 

What song would you play to get pumped up? “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas.  

What is your motto? Happiness is a mood, not a destination.

What’s your favorite vacation spot? Dodger Stadium!

If you had a time machine, what time period would you visit and why? The '80s. I’d love to spend time with my parents when they were my age.

National, Multi-Stakeholder Collaborative Unifies Around Common Standard for Transport of Immunization Messages

In November 2020, the Immunization Integration Program (IIP) Collaborative, which is composed of leaders representing clinicians, electronic health record (EHR) developers, health information exchanges, IIS, and other public health agencies, gained agreement on the unified adoption of a standard transport protocol to improve interoperability and information sharing among EHRs and IIS to support public health immunization goals. Read more about the IIP Collaborative Transport Recommendations here. 

Information Requests

AIRA members can submit and review information requests—a circulation of questions to and answers from the IIS community. Check out the recently published Information Request regarding exemptions by using the “Information Requests” filter in the AIRA repository.

We’ve noticed there are been fewer responses to Information Requests lately. We know many of you are working on COVID-19 vaccine response and planning and/or are covering for others on your team during the pandemic to keep the day-to-day work going. We appreciate your focus on this important work! Responses to Information Requests are a great way to give information and support to your colleagues working on pandemic response and those who continue to keep operations up and running. Please consider taking a few minutes to share information with your peers in the IIS community.

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 [email protected].

Committee and Workgroup Updates: November Recap