Number of Eligible Clients Receiving Services through our Immunization Program

Status

In this measure, ‘Number of Eligible Clients’ represents the total number of clients who received vaccinations through Austin Public Health (APH) ‘Shots for Tots/Big Shots’ clinics at the St John and Far South locations.  All vaccines administered are received via the federally funded Vaccines for Children (VFC) program and the state funded Adult Safety Net (ASN) program.  In addition, a few City-funded vaccines are provided (Influenza, HeplisavB [Hepatitis B] and Shingrix).  These vaccines are not available through the Adults Safety Net program.  To provide comprehensive immunization services to our target population, city funds are used to purchase these vaccines.  Data are reported monthly on an ongoing basis.  Data is extracted and compiled from eClinicalWorks (eCW).

Trending

The number of eligible clients receiving services from our Immunization Program has increased in the past year due to the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines.  The data set includes doses administered in the Shots for Tots/Big Shots clinics. The total number of clients the program can serve is limited at its upper value by the number of available nursing resources.  As a safety net provider, our capacity for routine vaccination is also affected by the make-up of the eligible client population: children with Medicaid, children who are American Indian or Alaskan Native, children who are uninsured, children whose health insurance does not cover vaccines, and uninsured adults.
Our clinics continue to see increasing numbers of the immigrant population, requiring the need to translate foreign Immunization Records.  Beginning in March 2022, our clinics instituted a new process using FormStack, a HIPAA-compliant application, whereby clients can upload their foreign records before their scheduled appointments thus eliminating translation time in the clinic.  This serves to increase our capacity.  On March 14, 2022, Shots for Tots/Big Shots returned to our pre-pandemic scheduling, further increasing our capacity.
Note: to see the underlying data for this chart, please select the "View Source Data" link to the left.

Additional Measure Insights

Austin Public Health received its first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine in December 2020; the current data includes eligible clients served through September 30, 2021.  This data does include COVID-19 immunization visits at Shots for Tots/Big Shots clinics only and does not include all COVID-19 immunization visits conducted by APH.  To improve equity of vaccine uptake, Shots for Tots/Big Shots partnered with our Neighborhood Centers to provide COVID-19 vaccination to their vulnerable populations, the elderly and disabled who had no access to a computer and/or mobility impairment.  Our Call Center referred many clients to CapMetro’s Free Ride program.  This collaboration between multiple programs multiplied the benefits to our community.
In addition to vaccinating children and adults through Shots for Tots/Big Shots clinics, the APH Immunization Program also serves as Austin/Travis County’s Responsible Entity for the Texas Vaccines for Children and Adult Safety Net programs.  In this role, APH Immunization Program staff support the distribution and administration of vaccines through 75+ community providers (shown in the map below).  Through their work with this diverse and widespread network of providers, we support the vaccination of an additional 130,000+ eligible pediatric and adult clients each year.
This dataset only includes the number of persons vaccinated.  In addition to vaccinations, Shots for Tots/Big Shots clinics provide comprehensive immunization services to the public, including:
  • Immunization Record Screening – This includes reviewing immunization records and providing vaccine recommendations based on the record. 
  • Foreign Immunization Record translation – This includes transferring all vaccines appropriately documented as administered in another country or US state and creating a Texas record with all valid doses.  APH provide vaccine recommendations based on the translated record. 
  • Certified Immunization Records – Staff provide certified replacement of Immunization Records, including corrections, i.e. name changes.  If needed based on the record, staff will provide vaccine recommendations.
  • Social Services Referrals – Staff maintain a current list of community resources and provide these to clients upon request.

Measure Details and Definition

1) Definition: 'Number of Eligible Clients' represents the total number of clients who received vaccinations through Austin Public Health ‘Shots for Tots’ and ‘Big Shots’ programs at the St. John's and Far South clinics as well as clients who received Vaccines for Children (VFC) and Adult Safety Net (ASN) vaccinations from Shots for Tots nurses via community outreach programs. 
2) Calculation method: We calculated this measure by adding the total number of clinic and outreach clients who received vaccinations through our Shots for Tots and Big Shots programs.  
3) Data Collection Process: Until December 2017, Austin Public Health Immunization Program staff used the Texas-Wide Integrated Client Encounter System (TWICES) program, a Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) immunization record system, to run a report for each clinic. Beginning in December 2017, Austin Public Health (APH) implemented an electronic health record system, eClinical Works (eCW). Shots for Tots/Big Shots staff now run a clinic-client report each month from eCW. The monthly reports are then compiled to reach a yearly total. 
4) Measure Target Calculation:  The total number of eligible client visits is limited at its uppermost value by the total number of appointments available for either vaccinations or immunization record translation (for which a double appointment is often required). Total number of available appointments is pegged to throughput time for each client and the number of Full-time employees. The measure target of 12,000 represents the maximum number of clients that could be served (prior to reduction in capacity to accommodate pandemic-safe social distancing) with the current number of Full-time employees.
5) Frequency Measure is Reported: Annually (Fiscal Year)
Date page was last updated: May 2022