Assessing the Immunization Information System and electronic health record interface accuracy for COVID-19 vaccinations

OBJECTIVE: Our objective is to assess the accuracy of the COVID-19 vaccination status within the electronic health record (EHR) for a panel of patients in a primary care practice when manual queries of the state immunization databases are required to access outside immunization records. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study evaluated COVID-19 vaccination status of adult primary care patients within a university-based health system EHR by manually querying the Kansas and Missouri Immunization Information Systems. RESULTS: A manual query of the local Immunization Information Systems for 4114 adult patients with “unknown” vaccination status showed 44% of the patients were previously vaccinated. Attempts to assess the comprehensiveness of the Immunization Information Systems were hampered by incomplete documentation in the chart and poor response to patient outreach. CONCLUSIONS: When the interface between the patient chart and the local Immunization Information System depends on a manual query for the transfer of data, the COVID-19 vaccination status for a panel of patients is often inaccurate.