Outbreak Response

AIRA is committed to serving and supporting our members and the IIS community before, during, and following vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. As outbreaks emerge, AIRA works to provide support in the following ways:

Serving as a centralized forum to connect the IIS community and share information, approaches, and lessons learned
Highlighting the importance of IIS infrastructure and the role of IIS as a trusted source of vaccine administration data during outbreak response
Coordinating and aligning with national partners on policy, infrastructure, and funding
Providing technical assistance to support data extracts, provider onboarding, onboarding to the Immunization (IZ) Gateway, and identifying and working to resolve data quality challenges related to outbreak vaccination reporting
Supporting efforts to use IIS data to identify vaccination coverage gaps, inform response activities, and assess the impact of outbreaks on routine immunization
Helping the IIS community prepare for emerging outbreaks, changing vaccination needs, and the potential for multiple or concurrent vaccination campaigns

Supporting Measles, Mpox, and Other Outbreak Responses

Recent outbreaks of measles, mpox, and other vaccine-preventable diseases continue to demonstrate the important role IIS play in public health response. Timely, complete, and accurate immunization data can help jurisdictions understand vaccination coverage, identify populations or communities with vaccination gaps, support outreach, and monitor vaccine administration during a response.

AIRA works with the IIS community and national partners to identify emerging needs and share information, resources, and promising practices that can help jurisdictions respond efficiently and effectively.

Using IIS Data to Support Outbreak Response

IIS provide critical infrastructure that can be leveraged during outbreaks without requiring jurisdictions to build new systems or processes from the ground up. Depending on the outbreak and jurisdictional needs, IIS data can support activities such as assessing vaccination history and coverage, identifying areas or populations with vaccination gaps, monitoring vaccination efforts, facilitating data exchange across jurisdictions, and evaluating the impact of response activities.

AIRA’s Resource Repository also includes resources and examples from the IIS community related to outbreak response, including experiences responding to measles and mpox, COVID-19 and more.