The Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) has selected the Johnson County Public Health Jynneos Vaccine Program as a recipient of the 2023 ISAC Excellence in Action Award.
The Excellence in Action Award Program is a competitive awards program that
seeks to identify and recognize innovative county government employees,
programs, and projects.
The awards were presented during a ceremony at the ISAC Annual Conference in Des Moines on Aug. 23, 2023.
When the Mpox outbreak hit Iowa in 2022, Johnson County Public Health (JCPH) initiated its communicable disease response and began working with the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), disease prevention specialists, emergency preparedness planners, and community health nurses. JCPH soon coordinated contact tracing, case investigation, and vaccination.
A unique challenge of the response was the use of Jynneos, a newly approved vaccine
that saw changes over time in how the two doses could be administered. The vaccination program benefitted from the use of data collection tools to streamline screening, scheduling, vaccine administration, and follow-up for second doses. This streamlining provided for better customer service, efficiencies for the public health staff and volunteer corps, and cost savings for the taxpayers.
Beyond the vaccine program, JCPH and MRC have continued to use the data collection system for health assessment data collection, customer service evaluations, public engagement efforts and other projects.
