KEYWORDS:
Registry
ACIP recommendations
Disease Surveillance
Immunization Assessment

BACKGROUND:
Oregon Immunization ALERT is one of the most developed statewide registries, with records for over 90% of young children, and 11.5 million immunization records.

OBJECTIVE(S):
Using ALERT data from both public and private sources, rapidly identify the impact of changes in the childhood vaccine schedule for HepB, HepA, Polio, Varicella.
Monitor and facilitate the introduction of new vaccines such as PCV7.

METHOD(S):
Analyze trends and rates for specific antigens for children born from 1996 through 2001. Use ALERT data, CASA, and SPSS.

RESULT(S):
Identified new trends in administration of vaccines in Oregon following ACIP schedule changes from 1997-2001: 1)a precipitous drop-off in birth dose of HepB in 1999; 2)a reduction in administration of the third dose of polio in 1997; 3)very rapid uptake of PCV7 in 2001; 4) gradual uptake of Varicella from 1997-2001; 5)increase in administration of HepA for pre-school children and adolescents in 2000-2001.

CONCLUSIONS(S):
The use of ALERT data has been a valuable tool to reveal unintended results, both positive and negative, of changes in the childhood vaccine schedule. These results support the use of immunization registries to rapidly monitor the impact of vaccine changes, and to facilitate the introduction of new vaccines in the childhood schedule.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
To understand how registry data can be used as a rich data resource to understand shifting patterns in immunization practice that occur due to changes and complexity of the childhood immunization schedule.