WWBT: VDH: Overhaul to state vaccine registration system in the works

WWBT, HENRY GRAFF

An in-house solution to Virginia’s vaccine registration woes is around the corner. State health officials are weighing whether or not to ditch the current system being used. That’s because PrepMod has a flaw. People can share registration links, causing confusion and delays.

Recently, a new system called VASE was piloted to help schedule appointments for the first community vaccination clinics, which are scheduled to open next week.

For now, the VDH says it will continue to use PrepMod to register individuals on-site to ensure their information gets into the statewide system that tracks who has been vaccinated.

Meanwhile, stimulus money from the federal government will soon pour into the commonwealth. Aside from your own wallet, state and local government will split about $6.9 billion in aid.

“That really is just an essential piece to ensure that we can have massive production and deployment of vaccine across the country,” said Rep. Abigail Spanberger, (D) 7th District.

$20 billion will support vaccine deployment. It’s all more resources in a fight that continues to wage on more than a year in.

“That’s key to be able to reopen businesses, get children back to school fully, completely and safely and protecting the most vulnerable among us,” said Rep. Spanberger.

FULL STATEMENT FROM DEPT. OF GENERAL SERVICES:

The CDC developed VAMS (Vaccine Administration Management System) to help states and other government entities with vaccine scheduling and clinic management, and to allow organizations like employers or health departments to bulk upload individuals who are eligible to receive a vaccine.

Like others states, Virginia experienced problems with the scheduling feature in VAMS, so in late January VDH switched to PrepMod. This system worked for many uses, but its inability to create unique user links to schedule appointments led to confusion and frustration when users shared the links and ineligible people signed up for vaccinations only to be turned away or have their appointments canceled. PrepMod also lacks the bulk upload feature, making it difficult to leverage lists of names pulled from the state pre-registration system.

Virginia officials have been working with the vendor for several weeks to fix these issues, but the vendor has so far been unable to do so.

As Virginia’s vaccine allocation projections quickly increased, VDH stepped in to develop an in-house scheduling solution. Two weeks later, the VASE (Vaccine Appointment Scheduling Engine) was piloted to help schedule appointments for the first Community Vaccination Clinics (CVCs), which are scheduled to open next week.

For now, we will continue to use PrepMod to register individuals on-site to ensure their information gets into our statewide system that tracks who has been vaccinated (VIIS-Virginia Immunization Information System). The VASE system potentially can be modified to replace PrepMod altogether in the coming weeks to months, and this expansion is currently being evaluated.