Approximately 95% of all U.S. children begin the recommended series of vaccination, but only about 75% complete the series by 2 years of age– a critical period for childhood disease prevention. Ensuring that children complete the recommended series of immunizations at the appropriate time is the main problem facing immunization programs. However, since many children receive vaccines from more than one provider and since many parents do not maintain accurate records of their children’s immunizations, it is difficult to evaluate the immunization status of individuals. Without this information, efforts to identify and aggressively pursue children who are incompletely immunized are severely hampered.

To address this problem and to meet the Healthy People 2010 objective to increase to 95% the proportion of children aged < 6 years who participate in fully operational population-based immunization registry, the New Jersey Department of Health & Senior Services (NJDHSS) developed the New Jersey Immunization Information Registry (NJIIS). The NJIIS is a confidential, population-based, computerized information system that allows NJDHSS to collect and consolidate vaccination data about children within a geographic area. Registries are an important tool to increase and sustain high vaccination coverage by consolidating vaccination records of children from multiple providers, generating reminder and recall vaccination notices for each child, and providing vaccination history documents, and vaccination coverage assessments.

The NJIIS allows providers to obtain a complete and accurate immunization history for a new or continuing patient, produce immunization records, reduce paperwork, manage vaccine inventories, introduce new vaccines or changes in the vaccine schedule, interpret the complex immunization schedule, and provide immunization coverage data for your office, health plans, and other national organizations. Major health care organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, American Osteopathic Association, the American Association of Health Plans and the American Public Health Association, have endorsed immunization registries as an important tool in the delivery of vaccine.

For additional information on NJIIS: http://njiis.doh.state.nj.us/njiis/

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