LINKS does the following:
- Provides patients with a permanent immunization record to help reduce unnecessary immunizations and saves time when patients are requesting vaccination records.
- Serves as a clinical decision tool by instantly calculating which vaccines need to be given to patients in accordance with the latest ACIP vaccine recommendations and intervals.
- Serves as a vaccine supply management tool to account for costly VFC supplied vaccine.
- When requested, it automatically generates reminder and recall postcards and/or mailing labels to send out to parents to remind them when their child’s immunizations are due or have been missed.
- Decreases time spent by your office staff seeking immunization histories from previous providers. Lists can also be generated to expedite school enrollment and eliminate individual calls from school personnel.
- Protects the privacy of all users, including children, families, and providers. Only those who are authorized to do so have access to LINKS information.
- Allows clinics to achieve their Meaningful Use goals and incentives.
The purpose of LINKS
LINKS - Immunization Information System
Learn more ways IIS improve public health at immregistries.org.
The benefits of LINKS
- Protects the privacy of all users, including children and families while combining vaccination information from different sources into a single, electronic vaccination record.
- Provides easy-to-access official immunization records for school, daycare and camp entry requirements. To get information on accessing your vaccination records click here.
- Enables providers and parents to determine when immunizations are due. In addition to vaccination providers, schools and childcare facilities also utilize LINKS to ensure children are up to date on their vaccinations.
- Helps to ensure that children get only the vaccinations recommended for their age.
- Collects population-level data that the Immunization Program uses to develop parish-level vaccination coverage maps that are made available to the public through our website - see latest maps here.
- Assists immunization programs in identifying populations at high risk for vaccine-preventable diseases and targeting interventions and resources efficiently.
- In the event of vaccine preventable disease outbreaks, school and public health officials can quickly identify the immunization status of individuals to ensure their protection and the protection of others.
- Ensures vaccination providers ordering and administering federally funded vaccines are managing their vaccine inventories appropriately.
Your participation in LINKS
If you or your child receives a vaccination from a provider participating in LINKS, your vaccination information will automatically be entered into LINKS. An individual may request the removal of their information from LINKS at any time through written request of either the client or the client's custodial parent or legal guardian. These requests must include: the current date; client's full name; client's date of birth; client address; and guardian's name, along with the signature of the client or client's custodial parent or legal guardian. Requests for removal must be mailed to:
Louisiana Office of Public Health Immunization Program 1450 Poydras Street, Suite 1938, New Orleans, LA 70112
Requests for removal will process within 7 to 10 business days of receipt. Future immunization information should not be entered back into LINKS by vaccine providers. However, it is important that you inform your health care providers about your request to be removed from LINKS. Your immunization data could be unintentionally entered back into LINKS if they are not aware of your desired non-participation in LINKS.
To enroll in LINKS contact the LINKS user services representative in your region:
- Metro Region 1: Vanessa Hargrove, 504- 599 - 0128, Vanessa.Hargrove@LA.GOV
- Capitol Region 2: Cindy Aydell, 225-342-2046, Cindy.Aydell@la.gov
- Region 3: Amanda Melancon, 985-449-4712, amanda.melancon@la.gov
- Acadian Region 4: Allen Franks, 337-262-5620, Allen.Franks@la.gov
- Southwest Region 5: Shonna McCarthy-Lewis, 337-475-3245, Shonna.McCarthy-Lewis@la.gov
- Central Region 6: Lavillian Jordan, 318-487-5264, Lavillian.Jordan@LA.gov
- Northwest Region 7: Tara J. Black, 318-676-7926, Tara.Black@LA.gov
- Northeast Region 8: Joy Jordan, 318-361-7217, Joy.Jordan@la.gov
- Region 9: Haley Young, 985-543-4857, haley.young@la.gov