Immunizations

Childhood and adolescent immunizations

The childhood and adolescent immunization data can be used to monitor state- and county-level immunization coverage and progress towards national, state, and local coverage goals. The data can also help to identify populations at risk for vaccine-preventable disease and encourage public health actions and policies aimed at increasing immunization.

School immunizations

• To identify communities with low immunization rates, informing efforts with local partners to understand vaccination barriers, share reliable vaccine information, and measure progress toward higher immunization rates.
• To prioritize outreach and public health messages in communities with lower vaccination rates to increase protection.
• To identify schools and school districts that are at higher risk for a vaccine preventable disease outbreak.
• To identify schools that may need technical assistance related to the immunization requirements.

The immunization data and measures cannot tell us why children are not up-to-date. Some children may not have ready access to all the recommended vaccines, and some parents may choose not to vaccinate. Also, some children may have received vaccinations that are not recorded in MIIC.

Childhood and adolescent immunizations (MIIC)

Although MIIC is a useful resource for real-time assessments of state and county immunization percentages in Minnesota, MIIC data may underestimate the actual percent of children receiving vaccines due to several limitations:

• Health care provider participation in MIIC is voluntary. Although approximately 90 percent of Minnesota health care providers routinely submit immunization data to MIIC, not all those who participate report every dose of vaccine administered, nor historical immunizations reported by the patient.
• The data in MIIC may include children who have moved elsewhere, artificially inflating the denominator. When a child moves out of Minnesota, their MIIC record may not be updated to reflect their move, so the child may be mistakenly counted as a resident who is not up-to-date on their vaccinations.
• Cross border-state immunization data exchange is limited to Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Iowa. Vaccines received in Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Iowa by Minnesota residents are in MIIC, but there is no similar data exchange with South Dakota at this time.
• There was a nationwide shortage of Hib vaccine from December 2007 to September 2009. This shortage reduced immunization coverage percentages for Hib and the childhood series in the 2010 MIIC data.

School immunizations (AISR)

• The data reported to MDH does not indicate vaccination status of individual students. Only aggregate grade-level data is reported to MDH.
• The data are reported in the fall each year and may not reflect current immunization coverage levels. Students who were not up-to-date when initially enrolling in school may have since been vaccinated.
• Student vaccination records are collected by school staff. School staff summarize the student-level data and report grade-level data to MDH during the fall of each school year. MDH does not have the ability to verify the accuracy of the data that is being submitted by schools.
• Students with exemptions may be partially vaccinated; however, because MDH does not collect individual student level data, we are unable to verify the immunization status of students with exemptions.

Childhood series vaccines recommended* by 24 months

• 4 doses of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTaP) vaccine
• 3 doses of polio vaccine
• 1 dose of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine
• 2-4** doses of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine
• 3 doses of Hepatitis B (Hep B) vaccine
• 1*** dose of varicella (chickenpox) vaccine
• 2-4** doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)

Additional vaccines recommended* by 24 months

• 2-3** doses of rotavirus vaccine
• 2 doses of Hepatitis A (Hep A) vaccine

*See Vaccine Recommendations and Access for Minnesotans from Minnesota Department of Health. Some immunizations require additional vaccine doses later in childhood.

**Depending on factors including product type and age at first dose.

***Not indicated if child has had the disease.

Adolescent vaccines recommended* by 13 years

• 2-3** doses of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine
• 1 dose of meningococcal conjugate (MenACWY) vaccine
• 1 dose of tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap) vaccine

Adolescent vaccines recommended* by 19 years

• 1 additional dose of MenACWY vaccine
• 2-3*** doses of meningococcal B (MenB) vaccine

*See Vaccine Recommendations and Access for Minnesotans from Minnesota Department of Health.

**Adolescents younger than age 15 years are recommended to receive 2 doses of vaccine. Immunocompromised adolescents at any age are recommended to receive 3 doses.

***MenB vaccine is recommended for adolescents aged 16 – 23 years. The preferred age range to receive this vaccine is 16 – 18 years. The number of doses depends on the vaccine product and special health and situation considerations.

To learn more about MIIC-based childhood and adolescent immunization data, contact the Minnesota Immunization Information Connection (MIIC) in the MDH Immunization Program.

To learn more about school-based immunization data, go to School Immunization Data or contact the MDH Immunization Program.

For more information about the immunization data and measures, contact us.