Forecaster Tool
The Minnesota Immunization Information Connection (MIIC) provides a clinical decision support tool that forecasts the client’s vaccination needs. The tool aims to recommend routine immunizations needed based on the client’s current age and vaccination history in MIIC. Visit Vaccine Recommendations and Access for Minnesotans for more information on vaccine schedules.
The forecaster tool consists of schedules for each vaccine group. Vaccines that protect against the same disease for the same age group are categorized into vaccine groups. There may be multiple schedules per group depending on recommendations. These schedules determine what is displayed in a client immunization record, including, dose in series, validity, forecasted dates for next dose, and series completion status.
A dose is valid if an eligible product is administered within the age and interval recommendations in the schedule for that vaccine group. A dose may be invalid if it falls outside of the age or interval recommendations, if an inappropriate product is administered, or if it is manually invalidated.
On this page:
Catch-up schedules
Combination vaccines
Vaccines administered outside the United States
High-risk or off-label us of a vaccine
Tradename specific forecasting
Displayed dates
Vaccines given before or after date recommended
Catch-up schedules
Some childhood vaccination series have catch-up schedules that provide guidance for clients who fall behind on routinely recommended immunizations. In some cases, a client may need fewer doses or doses with different intervals compared to the routine vaccination schedule.
The forecaster is set up to take catch-up schedules into account. While the forecaster can account for the catch-up schedules because they are based on age, it cannot handle recommendations for certain high-risk groups or populations as MIIC does not accept non-immunization medical information.
Combination vaccines
Combination vaccines are a great opportunity to provide multiple vaccines in a single shot. However, combination vaccine schedules can be harder to forecast, especially when more than one combination vaccine is used to complete a vaccination series for a child or when used as part of catch-up vaccination schedules.
Vaccine administered outside the United States
Vaccinations administered outside the U.S. can be entered into MIIC. Not all non-US vaccine products are validated in MIIC. Having a complete immunization history in MIIC is important even if the doses were given outside the U.S. These include but are not limited to:
- Non-U.S. COVID-19 vaccines.
- Non-U.S. influenza vaccines.
- Non-U.S. vaccines given routinely in other countries.
- Non-U.S. combination vaccine.
- If a non-US combination vaccine is not available in MIIC, then you enter the vaccine as separate components. For example, a combination vaccine with diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and polio would be entered not as the U.S. vaccine Kinrix, but as DTaP and polio separately.
- Unspecified vaccines.
- If you do not have brand name information you may report the vaccine as unspecified. For some vaccine groups, an unspecified vaccine cannot be validated.
Learn how to enter doses into MIIC by visiting Manage Immunizations.
High-risk or off-label use of a vaccine
The goal of MIIC is to forecast for routine recommendations. There may be reasons to vaccinate a patient outside of those recommendations. For example, people at high-risk for disease may to be vaccinated on a different schedule. MIIC is not always able to properly validate doses administered outside of routine recommendations.
Tradename specific forecasting
For some vaccine series, the vaccine tradename may impact the recommended schedule. For example, in some cases clients must finish the series with the same vaccine product they started with (such as Trumenba). For other series, the product used may affect the number of doses and recommended intervals (such as Pediarix).
MIIC is usually able to take these tradename specific scenarios into account, based on the first dose in a group added to MIIC. If you come across an error reach out to the MIIC Help Desk for further assistance.
Displayed dates
The four dates displayed in the forecaster refer to:
- Earliest date: The earliest date that the client could receive the vaccination.
- Recommended date: The date that is recommended for the client to receive the vaccination.
- Overdue date: The date that the vaccination will be overdue.
- Latest date: The latest date that would be appropriate for the client to receive the vaccination.
Vaccines given before or after date recommended
The MIIC forecaster allows for a four-day grace period. This means the dose will not be marked invalid if given within four days before the earliest recommended date or within four days after the latest recommended date. Providers and clinicians should not purposefully schedule vaccines within this period. The grace period is only there to account for errors.
