What does our struggle to distribute and track vaccine administration in our community tell us about our health data infrastructure?
I was surprised to find that many of the questions from two weeks ago with regard to vaccine distribution are still around. Who has it, where and when can I get it, how is it going to be tracked? Sure there are pictures of people getting the vaccine online, but who's next and how do I get in line are still unclear to many of the people I interacted with over the holidays.
HBR has a good article which postulates some solutions.
FTA:
The data infrastructure in the United States can’t adequately support the effort to vaccinate the U.S. population against Covid-19. Four steps must be taken: standardize the way personal health data is exchanged; align states’ immunization registries and state and federal reporting analytics; design immunization “passports” that are portable, equitable, and protect privacy; and address privacy, portability, and cybersecurity tradeoffs.
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One takeaway. There is no quick fix to decades of data practices that were more siloed and competitive between systems than supportive of public health.
Your thoughts?