The Department of Defense (DOD) has used its new electronic health records system to collate data on COVID-19 vaccine administration on service members and their family members.
The U.S. Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) said Thursday the DOD’s Military Health System GENESIS platform housed a digital repository of military COVID-19 vaccination data to support tracking efforts for the government’s vaccination campaign.
In September 2020, Naval Hospital Twentynine Palms in California received the MHS GENESIS-based “MassVax” digital archive designed to integrate with EHR data and automate the processing of large-scale vaccination information.
Col. Thomas Cantilina, chief health informatics officer at the Defense Health Agency (DHA), said the DOD enlisted Cerner to help develop the archive as MHS GENESIS contnues to evolve. He noted that MassVax also provides data on patients’ drug intake and allergic reactions to help inform clinicians prior to vaccine administration.
The DOD has administered 84 percent of COVID-19 vaccines it received as of March 5. The department is also slated to immediately secure newly approved single-shot vaccines from Johnson & Johnson.