In 2019, a top official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Safety wrote about his experience trying to access immunization records for his daughter to send to her school. His experience is one in which many parents can relate.
“The whole process to call, get the accurate records, and wait to receive them took more time than I would have liked,” wrote Ed Simcox, then the chief technology officer at the department.
Now, in Utah, parents can access their children’s or their own immunization records by downloading the app, Docket, entering their information, and waiting a few seconds for a state database to send their immunization records directly to their phone. Michael Perretta, the founder and CEO of Docket, said that Utah is the first state where Docket is available, and he is hoping to expand access to residents of other states, as well.
Docket helps not just with collecting records that schools require; it can also keep families informed on their health history. For anyone wondering when they got their last flu vaccine or whether they need a booster shot against human papillomavirus (better known as HPV), Docket provides a simple solution.
The project, which is free to the public, is supported by Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as part of an effort to allow individuals easier access to their immunization records.
One of the key challenges with “liberating” immunization data, according to James Daniel, a former HHS official who worked in the department’s office of technology, is that the registries that track the information are run by state and local health departments, creating a fractured terrain of incomplete records, especially as people move across the country or even within their own state.
Daniel, who recently left the department, reflected before his departure on a closely related initiative called the Immunization Gateway, called IZ Gateway for short, calling it “the most innovative project to improve public health” of those he worked on at the department. He said making immunization records more readily available would become even more important during the age of COVID-19.
“The COVID-19 pandemic now presents an unprecedented need for the IZ Gateway, as this infrastructure can play a critical role during mass vaccination campaigns,” Daniels said. “The arrival of COVID-19 mass vaccinations will be the ultimate test of the power of the IZ Gateway, and further underscores the need for continuous innovations in health care, as the foundations we build today are often critical to addressing the problems of tomorrow.”
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