Using Statewide Electronic Health Record and Influenza Vaccination Data to Plan and Prioritize COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach and Communications in Wisconsin Communities

In December 2020, the University of Wisconsin Neighborhood Health Partnerships Program and Health Innovation Program partnered with the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) to build an outreach prioritization tool, using electronic health record (EHR) and influenza vaccination uptake data to support community-level understanding of COVID-19 mortality risk and vaccination barriers. This paper outlines work by HIP Investigators Dr. Maureen Smith and Dr. Jennifer Weiss. 

The purpose of the tool was to understand where and how to prioritize COVID-19 vaccination outreach efforts in Wisconsin communities. Potential barriers to COVID-19 vaccination include hesitancy, access, and trust in health care. These barriers were estimated by using ZCTA-level 2019–2020 seasonal influenza vaccination data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Immunization Registry and divided each ZCTA’s influenza vaccination rate by the average rate for all ZCTAs to derive relative vaccination rates..