Data driven Immunization Program outreach: Using IIS and Vital Records data for innovative vaccine coverage analyses to better target immunization outreach activities in Minnesota

The Minnesota Immunization Program implemented an innovative data analysis method to examine coverage rates across social determinants of health to better target outreach activities.  By linking race, ethnicity and parental birth country data from birth certificates with immunization data from Minnesota’s IIS, the program can identify immunization coverage gaps to effectively target outreach activities.  Outreach activities have included:  1) a Somali population-specific MMR assessment, prompted by a measles outbreak and reports of MMR vaccine hesitancy among Somali in MN, used IIS and Vital Records to calculate county level childhood immunization coverage rates for areas with large Somali populations for 24-month-old children of Somali descent; and 2) an assessment for coverage among pregnant women with Tdap and influenza vaccines.  Maternal data from a child’s birth certificate was matched to the mother’s immunization record in the IIS using name and date of birth.  Gestational age from birth certificate data was used to calculate the time interval that the mother was pregnant to determine if she had received Tdap and influenza vaccines during this interval.