The Military Health System recognizes August as Immunization Awareness Month. A page has been established on health.mil containing resources and information on the topic – it is available at www.health.mil/immunization.
This month the MHS aims to support the enormous efforts undertaken every day by military physicians, technicians, corpsmen and medics to ensure our service men and women are properly immunized and medically ready to deploy anywhere at any time. Tracking these numerous and varied immunizations ensures that the MHS’s 9.6 million beneficiaries receive appropriate shots and avoid duplication.
To make certain that individuals do not receive duplicate or unnecessary immunizations the MHS is developing a new tracking system for electronic health records. The Universal Immunization Tracking System (UITS) aims to drastically reduce patient safety problems by consolidating immunization systems. This will allow all vaccines and shots administered to anyone in any military medical facility to be recorded in one system, regardless of the facility’s location.
The Department of Defense uses only vaccinations that the Food and Drug Administration has approved and follows the Center for Disease Control’s guidelines. The Military Vaccine Agency, which supports DoD vaccination programs, offers extensive information about vaccinations (at www.vaccines.mil), as does the DoD’s Vaccine Healthcare Centers Network (at www.vhcinfo.org).
Remain vigilant and get your shots up-to-date. Learn more about immunization by visiting www.health.mil or www.health.mil/immunization, which offer a wealth of articles, resources, videos, web links and other materials on this month’s theme.
This month the MHS aims to support the enormous efforts undertaken every day by military physicians, technicians, corpsmen and medics to ensure our service men and women are properly immunized and medically ready to deploy anywhere at any time. Tracking these numerous and varied immunizations ensures that the MHS’s 9.6 million beneficiaries receive appropriate shots and avoid duplication.
To make certain that individuals do not receive duplicate or unnecessary immunizations the MHS is developing a new tracking system for electronic health records. The Universal Immunization Tracking System (UITS) aims to drastically reduce patient safety problems by consolidating immunization systems. This will allow all vaccines and shots administered to anyone in any military medical facility to be recorded in one system, regardless of the facility’s location.
The Department of Defense uses only vaccinations that the Food and Drug Administration has approved and follows the Center for Disease Control’s guidelines. The Military Vaccine Agency, which supports DoD vaccination programs, offers extensive information about vaccinations (at www.vaccines.mil), as does the DoD’s Vaccine Healthcare Centers Network (at www.vhcinfo.org).
Remain vigilant and get your shots up-to-date. Learn more about immunization by visiting www.health.mil or www.health.mil/immunization, which offer a wealth of articles, resources, videos, web links and other materials on this month’s theme.