Immunization information systems: a decade of progress in law and policy.

This article reports on a study of laws, regulations, and policies governing Immunization Information Systems (IIS, also known as "immunization registries") in states and selected urban areas of the United States. The study included a search of relevant statutes, administrative codes and published attorney general opinions/findings, an online questionnaire completed by immunization program managers and/or their staff, and follow-up telephone interviews.The legal/regulatory framework for IIS has changed considerably since 2000, largely in ways that improve IIS' ability to perform their public health functions while continuing to maintain strict confidentiality and privacy controls.

Delivering new vaccines to adolescents: the role of school-entry laws.

In the United States, state-based school-entry vaccination laws have been used effectively to rapidly increase vaccination rates among adolescents, in particular, for hepatitis B vaccine. New vaccines for adolescents raise the question of whether and under what circumstances school-entry laws may be used to increase coverage rates with these vaccines. The new vaccines differ somewhat from their predecessors and raise policy and legal issues.

Assessing state immunization requirements for healthcare workers and patients.

Background: Laws requiring vaccination for school entry have resulted in high coverage and reduced disease incidence; however, few data exist on the use of similar laws in other settings. This study reviews laws regulating vaccination of healthcare workers (HCWs) and patients in selected healthcare delivery settings.

Methods: From September 2004 to June 2005, Lexis-Nexis and other web-based databases were searched for laws pertaining to HCW and patient vaccination in 50 states and Washington DC.

A review of state legislation related to immunization registries.

Background: Since the early 1990s, a concerted effort has been made to develop community- and state-based immunization registries. A 1995 survey showed that nine states had laws specifically authorizing immunization registries. This survey was conducted to describe the current status of legislation and policies addressing immunization registries and the sharing of immunization information.

Smart backplanes-II The IBM PC.

A comprehensive account is given of the characteristics of the IBM PC personal computer and of the range of hardware and software available for it from various manufacturers, together with a list of books, magazines and journals of interest to the user.