Overview of the Parts of an Immunization Schedule
Immunization schedules determine how many doses are needed and the spacing between doses. Immunization Validation uses the schedule to determine whether the student has met the dosage requirements for each immunization series that applies to the student.
Schedules are defined for an overall series that will be reported; each dose in the series can be fulfilled by any of the shots entered for that series in the Alternate Dosages table. Thus, you can enter an MMR series, and each dose could be fulfilled by either a single MMR shot, or 3 shots, one for measles, one for mumps, and one for rubella.
Each schedule can have the following parts:
Booster | Specifies special circumstances for a dose that is not tied to a specific age. For example, this can be used to specify that the student's last dose of tetanus must have been given within 10 years for the student to be considered up to date, or that a lead test must have been given no more than 1 year before the student's entry into the district. This is specified in the Booster Requirements section on the Immunizations Schedule page. |
Requirement for a Specific Shot Type | Specifies that a number of the doses must be one of the required shot types for the series. For example, you may require that at least one shot for the DPT series is the DPT shot itself. This is specified in the Shot Requirement section on the Immunizations Schedule page. |
Recommended Schedule | Each dose for a student is checked for the ages listed. All doses must meet the recommended schedule in order for the schedule to be followed. This is specified in the Recommended Age Range fields on the Immunizations Schedule page. |
Minimum Schedule | This schedule is used if at least one of the student's doses does not meet the recommended schedule. Each dose is checked to see whether it fulfills the time from the last dose. This is specified in the Minimum Schedule fields on the Immunizations Schedule page. |
Minimum Age Requirement | Specifies that the dose cannot be given before the student reaches the specified age. This is specified in the Not Before Age fields on the Immunizations Schedule page. |
Minimum Period of Time After Birth or Another Dose | Specifies that the dose cannot be given until the specified period of time has passed since birth or the selected previous dose. This is specified in the Not Valid Until fields on the Immunizations Schedule page. |
Exception | Specifies whether this dose is optional, based on the age at which another dose was given. This is specified in the Exception fields on the Immunizations Schedule page. |
For information on how schedules are validated, refer to Immunization Validation Processing.