Pandemic Response & Vaccine Coordination

Participating Organizations: American Immunization Registry Association, Cerner, Epic, Nextgen, Shasta Networks, STCHealth

Riku, a fully vaccinated patient, needs proof of vaccination to enter a concert venue and has lost his CDC vaccination card. He logs into his EHR’s patient portal and notices that only his first vaccine dose is visible but is easily able to query the local immunization registry from within the portal to pull in his second vaccine dose. He uses QR codes generated directly in the patient portal following the Verifiable Clinical Information standard as the proof of vaccination he needs to enter the concert venue. When Riku later goes to get his booster, his PCP’s EHR unsuccessfully reports the dose to the immunization registry. Clinic staff can see the errors returned from the registry and correct the issues to successfully report Riku’s booster vaccination. After receiving his booster, Riku starts to develop symptoms that are consistent with COVID-19. As his symptoms worsen, he goes to the hospital for immediate help. Upon registration, the hospital EHR queries the state immunization registry and directly saves the response to Riku’s vaccine history in the EHR. A PCR test is ordered to test for COVID-19, and upon positive result, a case report is generated and sent outbound, including vaccine information indicating a breakthrough case. The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) receives the case report, routes to the right public health jurisdiction, and sends a reportability response back to the EHR end-user.