With a small population distributed over a large geographical area, North Dakota doesn't lend itself to the easiest vaccine rollout. But the state has a secret weapon: a robust database called the North Dakota Immunization Information System (NDIIS). 

NDIIS manager Mary Woinarowicz joins host Jonah Comstock to talk about the early days of the COVID rollout, and how having a robust data management system has helped the state to make the most of its allocated COVID-19 vaccine doses. 

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Talking points: 

• The NDIIS and its pre-COVID function
• How NDIIS is supporting the COVID-19 vaccine rollout
• Logistical challenges to vaccine administration, especially in rural areas
• How data analytics help smooth out the rollout
• The challenges of launching a state-level response that’s part of a national rollout
• How NDIIS has responded to strong vaccine demand
• Patient-facing tools to improve the vaccine rollout
• Additional challenges related to the second dose
• The NDIIS’s Immunization Forecasting tool
• The slip in non-COVID vaccination during the pandemic
• What still lies ahead for COVID-19 vaccination
• Should people who have had COVID get the vaccine?
• How to decide which vaccine patients get which vaccine

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