Children’s vaccination records should be accessible via an online database so that preschool and elementary-school teachers would no longer need to check such records at schools, National Federation of Education Unions and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday.
Children’s vaccination records are saved on the National Immunization Information System (NIIS) and manually updated by medical professionals on a print vaccine form known as the “yellow card,” federation director-general Huang Yao-nan (黃耀南) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan.
Instead of building an effective online system for checking missed vaccinations, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has since 2008 required preschool and elementary-school teachers to review children’s yellow cards to ensure that they receive the necessary vaccines, Huang said.
“Teachers are not medical professionals. They cannot professionally evaluate the need for vaccines and if they make a mistake, who is going to be held responsible?” Huang asked.
The ministry could create an online system that keeps track of missed vaccinations and teachers could help remind parents, he said, adding that it would save money and reduce unnecessary work for teachers.
Teachers who double as class advisers often have to check the records of all the students in their class — usually 30 to 40, he added.
“The government should invest in a health management app with an account for every child that could remind parents to get their children vaccinated,” KMT Legislator Chiang Nai-shin (蔣乃辛) said.
If the government had real-time information about children’s immunization status, it could notify parents before the school year starts, Chiang said.
“That is how disease control and prevention should be done,” he said.
Parents who forget to bring their child’s yellow card to a clinic or hospital are often required to return home and get it before their child can get their shot, Chiang said.
“That does not make sense. Considering technological progress and how much trouble the yellow card system causes parents and children, why can the government not do something about it?” he asked.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said that the agency would work with its technology provider to improve the NIIS so that the system could eventually replace the cards.
Vaccination records on the NIIS are updated three to 30 days after vaccinations are administered due to medical professionals’ heavy workload and upload restrictions, he said.
As a result, yellow cards still provide the most up-to-date information about children’s immunization, he said, adding that the government appreciates teachers’ contributions to disease prevention.
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