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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There’s now a new place patients can go online to check their vaccination records from wherever they are.
The West Virginia Department of Health’s Bureau for Public Health has launched MyIR Mobile, a new system allowing patients to view their immunization history and print out their own official records.
WV DH Secretary Dr. Sherri Young said along with making it a lot easier for a person to see their own vaccine history and shots they are currently due for, they will also be able to check the ones their children need as well.
Dr. Sherri Young
“If you’re a parent or guardian of a child and you have school coming up and need to know if your children needs their immunizations, or if you’re getting ready to go to a doctors appointment and need to find out if your child is going to need immunizations at that appointment, then you will have that opportunity to look before the appointment and make plans,” said Young.
Young said how the new system works is patient data being pulled directly from the West Virginia Statewide Immunization Information System (WVSISS).
She said that data can then be accessed from any computer or device through the MyIR portal, which Young said reduces the administrative burden on healthcare staff, as before, it was all on them to keep track of.
“It was burdensome on the healthcare providers to always being accountable for that, to always be looking for that, now they will be an important part of this process, but this gives patients the ability to see when they’re do for their own immunizations and where they are in their healthcare process,” she said.
Young said after the first measles case that came up in the state in 15 years back in April, she said the new portal will also be an effective and efficient way at keeping track of those specific immunizations as well as it had left many adults wondering when or even if they had ever received a measles vaccine.
She said recently they tallied up the time and dollars spent on having just one measles case in the state after a total of 139 individuals who had come into contact with the infected person had to get tested. Young said the MyIR portal will help reduce all of the time, money, and effort it took in tracking down such information for the future.
“To be able to go back and look to see if these 139 patients had their vaccinations, were they up to date, were they fully immunized, this is another opportunity as we have outbreaks and other things to know if you’re safe in those situations,” she said.
Young said patients can access the system by going to the MyIR website and creating and activating an account.
Once a registered account has been verified, vaccine records will be available for users to view and print on demand.
She said the portal is very easy to use.
“The important part of it is that it has a two-factor authentication process so that folk’s medical records are safe and they are protected, but if you go to the website to download this and you put in your two-factor authentication, it will take you directly to your immunization for yourself or for your children,” Young said.
The records the portal provides will be accepted at all facilities requiring proof of immunization.