Florida Department of Health Strengthening Vaccine-Preventable Disease Prevention and Response - Florida is the third-largest state in population and is growing at a faster rate than the rest of the U.S. Florida has 67 counties. In 2023 there were 2,357,500 uninsured persons in Florida, or 10.7% of the state’s population, compared to 8% of the U.S. population, and approximately 3.8 million persons enrolled in Medicaid. Florida is estimated to have 5.6 million persons aged 0-18 years of age, with 57% of those eligible for the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program. Despite high vaccination coverage in Florida, individual cases and outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) still occur. Hesitancy presents a challenge in encouraging immunization and puts communities at risk of VPD transmission. Over the IP 25-0007 grant period the Florida Department of Health’s (FDOH) Immunization Section will maintain collaborative working relationships with key CDC subject matter experts (SME) (e.g. Project Officer, IIS SME, Vaccine Advisor, CDC Public Health Advisor) to engage in activities in support of the goals and objectives of the Notice of Funding Opportunity to ensure that Florida is well positioned to respond to any incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases through enhanced workforce capacity and increased access to immunization services. Florida will implement evidence-based activities and strategies including content from the Companion Guide, peer-reviewed publications, and other sources. Immunization Section staff will work closely with our CDC Vaccine Advisor to continue to ensure the maintenance of an effective immunization supply pipeline for enrolled VFC providers and promote responsible inventory management by enrolled provider organizations. The Immunization Section’s Clinical Quality Improvement (CQI) Team along with the IQIP Coordinator will continue overseeing IQIP activities in Florida, and regionally placed Field Staff will implement immunization quality improvement strategies and monitor the impact on vaccination coverage in Florida. Florida’s IQIP program will be implemented per CDC guidelines, focusing on at least 25% of CDC-identified IQIP candidate providers. Florida has over 1,700 active health care providers enrolled in the VFC and Vaccines for Adults programs who administer public and private immunizations to eligible adult and pediatric populations. Florida will continue to maintain a dynamic IIS, Florida SHOTS. Florida SHOTS is a mature and reliable IIS, currently supporting over 11,000 participating enrolled organizations with over 27,000 service sites, 37 million patients, and 418 million vaccination records. It also supports over 2,000 VFC sites with ordering and Inventory management. The outcome of the activities to be implemented over the five-year project period is to increase access to immunization services for those who choose to include immunizations as a key component of their healthier lifestyle, improved health outcomes and protection against disease for all Floridians, and increased preparedness and ability to respond to vaccine-preventable diseases.
