Lab Matters Winter 2021 | Page 9

FEATURE

Coronavirus Disease ( COVID-19 ) Data Exchange on the AIMS Platform

Public Health Labs Clinical Labs

Information

Public Health Agencies

APHL Informatics Messaging Services ( AIMS )

AIMS is a cloud based platform that serves public health by providing a secure place for entities to exchange critical information — laboratory test orders , results , surveillance data and more — quickly . AIMS receives , stores , transmits , validates , and transforms COVID-19 electronic messages so that data can inform and support important decision making .

Immunization Registries

SARA ALERT

My Symptoms

Potential COVID-19 Patients ( Self-Reporting App )

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Healthcare Providers

APHL responded quickly to the requirement , modifying its existing APHL Informatics Messaging Services ( AIMS ) platform — which allows public health agencies to securely share data electronically — so agencies could send required COVID-19 test results to CDC .

Device Manufacturers Medical Devices

APHL . Personal information and identities are not shared .

Americans are also expressing concern about who will have access to the vaccination records CDC is requesting from state and local public health departments . CDC is requesting names , birthdates , addresses and ethnicities of people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 , according to a December 7 , 2020 , Healthline article . New York Gov . Andrew Cuomo has said his state will not provide the data because he is not comfortable with the possibility that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will use it to find undocumented immigrants .

CDC does track other vaccination rates , such as how many people got an annual flu shot or how many incoming kindergartners have had the measles , mumps and rubella vaccine . However , that information is typically de-identified before sending it to CDC .

Personal information is shared with CDC for reportable illnesses such as tuberculosis , syphilis , and hepatitis A and B . However , the public may not even know about this process because of those diseases ’ relatively smaller numbers . In the case of COVID-19 , by February 2021 , more than 28 million people in the US had contracted the disease and over 500,000 had died .

Because of the widespread threat of COVID-19 , debates have begun on whether individuals will soon need to show proof of vaccination to board a plane or train . Will employers require proof of vaccination for work ?

Some individuals are , rightly or wrongly , very concerned about the idea of big government databases that contain their sensitive information , including their health information .”

Adam Greene , JD