Serving Our Partners

Enhanced Service Delivery To meet state and national immunization objectives Field Staff conduct quality assurance and quality improvement activities in the public and private sectors. These activities promote best practices consistent with the Standards for Child and Adolescent Immunization Practices and the Standards for Adult Immunization Practices while generating provider-specific feedback on meeting state and national program goals.

Assessments, Surveys and Audits: Field Staff collect and report statistical data for use by the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, the Florida Department of Health and the Bureau. Data activities include an annual immunization survey of two-year-old children and school surveys (child care, Head Start, kindergarten and 7th grade). Data is also collected periodically on immunization policies covering individuals in hospitals, colleges, universities and nursing homes. Survey data are analyzed and evaluated by headquarter staff to identify trends, design intervention strategies, update program goals and objectives and devise or modify training and technical assistance.

Immunization Information Systems: Uniform collection and reporting of information by county health departments is achieved through the Department’s Health Management System. Uniform collection and reporting of information by immunization providers is achieved through the Florida State Health Online Tracking System (Florida SHOTS). Bureau efforts to achieve effective use of these for missing immunizations or to avoid duplicate immunizations rely significantly on Field Staff technical assistance to public and private providers throughout the State. Visit www.flshots.com for more information about the immunization registry.

Links with Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and other Economic Assistance Programs: WIC-Immunization linkage policies and guidelines established between the State WIC Program and the Bureau of Immunization are implemented by county health department staff. Field Staff facilitate local collaboration between the two programs to achieve these linkage policies. Visit http://www.doh.state.fl.us/family/wic/index.html for more information regarding WIC.

Surveillance and Outbreak Control: Coordination and management of disease reporting, surveillance and outbreak control by headquarters is a primary Department function. Locally, Field Staff assist headquarters with implementation of surveillance and outbreak control protocols when necessary. They perform follow-up on Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports according to state and federal guidelines. Visit http://www.doh.state.fl.us/disease_ctrl/epi/index.html for more information regarding surveillance and outbreak control.

Vaccine Management State- and federally-supplied vaccines are the essential resource for Florida’s immunization program. The Bureau is committed to fully safeguarding these resources with effective policies and guidelines for storage, handling, distribution and accountability. Locally, Field Staff provide critical assistance to ensure vaccine efficacy.