Healthcare Professional Third-Party Clinic User Manual

Your Role and Activities in VAMS

As a healthcare professional (HP) at a third-party clinic, you or the clinic administrator will serve as the third party for vaccine recipients who cannot activate an account or record their medical history in VAMS.

You will use VAMS to:

• manage the vaccine administration process for recipients,
• review recipient information,
• log vaccination, and
• view and track dates when recipients are eligible to receive their second dose of vaccine (if applicable)

Your role in VAMS is critical to making sure recipient vaccinations are successful. You have unique activities that only you, as the health professional, can perform in VAMS and some that you share with other users. The VAMS Role and Activity Matrix below shows the tasks available in VAMS for specific roles.

VAMS Role and Activity Matrix

Roles and Activities in VAMS

Activity in VAMS	Healthcare Professional	Clinic Administrator	Inventory Manager (optional)
Serve as the clinic point of contact (POC) for your jurisdiction (Typically, the clinic administrator serves as the clinic POC.).
Manage clinic information (e.g., shipping address).
Manage (add, edit, and remove) VAMS clinic users.
Manage clinic vaccine inventory (place and track inventory requests; log and reduce inventory).
Add and edit vaccine recipients in VAMS.
Document in recipient records that pre-vaccination actions have been completed and edit recipient details (if necessary).
Administer and log vaccination (vaccine information, outcome, and waste if applicable).
Search for, edit, or invalidate recipient vaccination records.
Track recipients’ next-dose eligibility (if applicable).

Other role-specific user manuals are available within “Resources for Jurisdictions, Clinics and Organizations”. If you have questions about specific tasks in VAMS that are relevant to your role or other roles at your clinic, quick reference guides are also available on this page.

Clinic Types in VAMS

In VAMS, clinics are assigned to a Clinic Type (e.g., Standard, Mobile, Third-Party, etc.)

Clinics are then further assigned to one of seven Clinic Service types. These Clinic Services include:

• Vaccinations
• COVID-19 Testing
• Scheduling
• School-Located Vaccinations
• Field-Located Vaccinations
• Vaccines for Children
• Other

NOTE: If the Clinic is set up as a Third-Party Clinic, the only Clinic Services available for selection will be Vaccinations, COVID-19 Testing, and Scheduling.

To learn more about the different Clinic Services and Clinic Types within VAMS, visit the Quick Reference Guide for Clinic Types.

Roles Needed for Third-Party Clinic Operations

To maintain clinic operations, your clinic must have:

• A clinic administrator
• A healthcare professional

Third-party clinic user roles do not include a front desk role because recipients will not be checked in at the clinic through VAMS. Additionally, since the clinic administrator can manage inventory in VAMS, your clinic is not required to fill the inventory manager role, but it is recommended.

Roles: Frequently Asked Questions

What Third-Party Clinic Staff Can Do in VAMS

Third-party clinics in VAMS are denoted as clinics responsible for both adding and managing recipient records as well as administering and tracking recipient vaccination in VAMS.

In VAMS, third-party clinics:

• Are not publicly searchable and only administer vaccine to select recipients added by the clinic.
• Do not allow for scheduling of appointments as recipients do not self-register or self-schedule appointments in VAMS. However, third-party clinic administrators may choose to mark their clinic as “available for scheduling,” which allows vaccine recipients with VAMS accounts to
  • find your clinic in search results for walk-in clinics only and
  • schedule walk-in appointments at the clinic.

Note: Third-party clinic administrators may choose to mark their clinics as “available for scheduling,” which allows vaccine recipients with VAMS accounts to view the clinic during a clinic search and schedule walk-in appointments at the clinic.

Outside of VAMS, third-party clinic staff must establish local processes for activities such as:

• Managing the schedule for the clinic and recipient vaccinations
• Confirming pre-vaccination actions are complete
• Notifying recipients that they are eligible for vaccination at the clinic
• Notifying recipients of a two-dose vaccine when they are eligible to receive their next dose of vaccine (if recipients do not elect to receive communications from VAMS)

Third-Party Staff VAMS Activities: Frequently Asked Questions

This section will show you how to add and manage recipients in VAMS.

Click on the buttons below to go to the corresponding sections in this user manual.

Activate Your VAMS Account

You must activate an account in VAMS to use the system. After your clinic administrator enters your name and email address in VAMS, you will receive an email with a VAMS registration link.

Visit “Getting Started in VAMS” for directions on how to create an account in VAMS. If you need additional support for your role or have questions about creating an account, registering for VAMS, or accessing VAMS, this page has answers to common questions.

After creating your account, you will be taken to the Clinic Portal home page, where you will see a Recipient Management tab.

Add Recipients in VAMS

Since vaccine recipients will not be creating their own account and entering their information in VAMS, they will need to be added in VAMS by a Clinic Administrator or Healthcare Professional.

You will need the following information about the recipient to add them in VAMS:

• First and Last Name
• Sex
• Date of Birth
• Ethnicity
• Race
• Home Address
• Representative/Guardian information. You can use this field to designate if you want to associate the recipient you are adding with a representative(s), guardian(s), or existing VAMS account(s). If Yes, you must enter the representative/guardian’s First Name, Last Name, and Date of Birth. You may also select the representative/guardian’s relationship to the recipient and include the representative/guardian’s email or phone number. If you do not add a representative/guardian when first adding a recipient, you cannot add them later.
  • You can add up to two representatives/guardians for each recipient. Adding a recipient as a dependent to a representative, guardian, or existing VAMS account will enable the representative/guardian to access the recipient’s details, schedule appointments on behalf of the recipient (at standard and mobile clinics), and view the recipient’s vaccination certificate(s) (if the representative/guardian has a registered VAMS account).
  • NOTE: If a recipient has already been added in VAMS, you can only associate a second representative/guardian to their account if you already associated a first representative/guardian when adding the recipient to your clinic.
• Contact Information (optional). A recipient’s email address, home phone number, and/or cell phone number as well as their preferred method of contact can be added in VAMS. If SMS is selected as the preferred contact method, VAMS will send the recipient a verification code via SMS. You must enter this code to continue adding the recipient. You can also add contact information to an existing third-party recipient’s record in VAMS. Third-party recipients who provide an email address or phone number and elect to receive communications from VAMS will receive follow-up communications via their preferred contact method (e.g., communications about reporting adverse events and reminders for next-dose eligibility).
• Account Information (optional). You can use this section to enable a recipient to register their own VAMS account by having VAMS send a registration link to the recipient’s preferred method of contact. You can activate this registration message by selecting Yes under Create a VAMS Account for Recipient? This enables the recipient to access the Recipient Portal where they can edit their information and schedule vaccination appointments at standard and mobile clinics. You can only use this field to register a recipient’s account if they have provided an email address or cell phone for their VAMS account.
  • NOTE: You also have the option to add an External System ID for the recipient. The External System ID field may be useful if your clinic uses an external appointment scheduling process or has an external recipient database. This ID must be unique and can be used to search for recipients once added to your clinic.
  • Once a recipient is added, you will be able to see if they have a VAMS account on the Recipient Information page. If they did not create a VAMS account when initially added to your clinic, you can go to the Recipient Information page to edit their details to create a VAMS account in the future.
• Pre-vaccination Actions. Pre-vaccination actions that must be completed include screening the recipient for contraindications, providing Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) Fact Sheets or a Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) depending on the vaccine product(s) available to the recipient, and acquiring authorization, if required. If the pre-vaccination actions have not been completed, you or the healthcare professional can edit the Pre-vaccination Questionnaire at any time after the recipient has been added in VAMS.
• Insurance Information (optional).
• Emergency Contact Information (optional).

Notes about adding recipients in VAMS:

• An auto-generated number called a VAMS ID will be created for each recipient added in VAMS. These system-generated IDs are not editable and are assigned to all existing and future recipients upon record creation. VAMS IDs are searchable on the Manage Recipients and Other Recipients tabs and will appear on recipients’ vaccination certificates.
• The system will perform two duplication checks when recipients are added to a third-party clinic, regardless of whether they are added individually or via bulk upload. The duplication checks will review first name and last name, date of birth (DOB), ZIP code, and External System ID (if provided) and will not allow recipients who fail the duplication check (e.g., have the same External System ID or the same first name, last name, DOB, and ZIP code) to be added.
  • In addition, if you attempt to create a VAMS account for a user with a preferred method of contact (email address or cell phone number) that is already associated with an existing VAMS account, VAMS will display an error message. Depending on the registration status of the existing VAMS account, VAMS will prompt you to either link the new account to the existing account or to change the new user’s preferred method of contact.

• After adding recipients, you can edit their information, including name and home address, contact information, and whether their pre-vaccination actions have been completed, by navigating to the Recipient Management tab, clicking on the Hyperlinked Name of the user you want to edit, and then clicking Edit Information under the Recipient Details tab.
  • NOTE: This does not include editing recipient vaccination records, such as date of vaccination, vaccine manufacturer, lot number, etc. Prior to adding a recipient in VAMS, you can search on the Other Recipients tab to see if they have already been added by another VAMS clinic. If desired, you can then add them to your clinic to receive vaccination. More information about the search functionality on the Other Recipients tab can be found later in this user manual.
• After adding a recipient in VAMS, you can review the recipient’s account registration status in their recipient record. To review this information, navigate to the recipient’s record, then scroll to the bottom of the Recipient Details tab to the Account Information window. If there is a username listed in the Account Information window, that means the recipient has been sent a registration email to register their account.

Add Recipients One at a Time, or via Bulk Upload

On the Recipient Management tab, there are two ways to add recipients in VAMS: one at a time or via bulk upload.

Add Recipients One at a Time

• Click the Add Recipient on the Recipient Management tab, which is also your third-party clinic’s home page in VAMS.
• Enter the recipient’s information. Note that fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are required. Click Next.
• Review all information entered on the Add Recipient pages and verify everything is correct. If so, click the checkbox at the bottom of the page, and click Submit. If not, click Previous and make corrections.
• After clicking Submit, the recipient’s record is saved in VAMS. You can now click Back to Portal to return to the Manage Recipients page.

Add Recipients via Bulk Upload

Bulk uploading allows you to add multiple recipients at once by adding their information in a comma delimited (.csv) template and uploading it in VAMS.

NOTE: When bulk uploading recipients, VAMS will cross-check them against existing recipients who have been entered in VAMS.

If a recipient does not exist in VAMS, the system will create a new record for that person on the Recipient Management tab. If a recipient was previously removed from your third-party clinic or if a recipient already exists in VAMS, they will not be added to your clinic via bulk upload. To add existing recipients to your clinic, use the search feature on the Other Recipients tab in VAMS to search for recipients then add them to your clinic.

• Click Import Recipients on the Recipient Management tab.
• Click the Recipient Import Template link in the pop-up window that appears. After clicking the link, the template file will download to your computer.
• Open the file and enter the recipients’ information.
• Save the file as a CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (.csv) You can find this option under the “Save As” drop- down menu in Excel.
• Click Upload Files in the Import Recipients pop-up window. You can also drag and drop the file in the “Drop Files” area of the pop-up window.
• Click Close.

Confirm Bulk Upload

After importing a list of recipients, the following processes automatically occur in VAMS:

• A message will appear on screen that your list is in the import queue.
• After your list has processed, you will receive an email from vams@cdc.gov, stating that it is uploaded.
• A result log will appear on the Data Imports tab.
• Click the Data Imports tab to check the results of your bulk upload.
• Ensure your Data Imports tab is showing the Recipient Import list in the dropdown field at the top of the page.
• In the Recipient Import list, you will see information about your upload, including the system-generated Import ID number, who imported the list, and when it was imported.
• Click the Import ID number to open the Import Details page.

There are two main sections on the Import Details page:

• Import details, which include the Import ID, who created it, and the date it was created.
• Files table, which includes two files: A Result Log for Bulk Upload file and the Recipient Import File you uploaded.
  • The Result Log for Bulk Upload file shows the results of your file upload.
• Click the Result Log for Bulk Upload link to open the file.
• Scroll to the right until you see the Status column. The Status column shows whether a recipient was added in the system.
• All recipients who have a status of Success have been uploaded in the system.
• Recipients whose statuses include an error message were not uploaded in the system and the message will tell you why.

NOTE: When bulk uploading recipients, VAMS will cross-check them against existing recipients who have been entered in VAMS.

• If a recipient does not exist in VAMS, the system will create a new record for that person on the Recipient Management tab.
• If a recipient was previously removed from your third-party clinic or if a recipient already exists in VAMS, they will not be added to your Recipient Management tab via bulk upload, but will be added to the Other Recipients tab. See the Other Recipients section for more information about the Other Recipients tab in VAMS.

Quick Tip: Once recipients have been added in VAMS, you can edit their information, including if their pre-vaccination actions have been completed from the Recipient Management tab (or Other Recipients tab if the recipient already existed in VAMS). Click the Hyperlinked Name of the recipient whose record you want to edit, then click Edit Information below the Recipient Details tab within the recipient’s record.

Remove Recipients

You can remove recipients on the Recipient Management tab by clicking the Drop-Down Arrow on the right side of their row in the Vaccine Recipients table and clicking Remove. After clicking Remove, you must confirm you wish to remove them before VAMS will remove the recipient from your clinic.

Other Recipients

Search for Recipients Already in VAMS

Prior to adding a recipient in VAMS, you can use the search feature on the Other Recipients tab to see if they have already been added in the system. The search feature will search for all recipients in VAMS, including those who have registered their own accounts at standard and mobile clinics, as well as those who were added by other third-party clinics. It will also search for recipients who were previously removed from your clinic. Once you find a recipient in the system, you can then add them to your clinic to receive vaccination.

• Click theOther Recipients 
• Click Find a Recipient in the top right corner of the screen.
• Search for the recipient’s record by entering their Email Address, Cell Phone Number, VAMS ID, or External System ID, or by entering their First and Last Name and Date of Birth. Note that if you enter first name, last name, and date of birth, all three fields are required, as indicated by a red asterisk.
• Click Search.
• The results of your search will appear at the bottom of the page.
• Once you find your desired recipient, click the Checkbox to the left of their name, then click Add Recipient in the top right corner of the Search Results table.
  • After adding the recipient, you will see a green alert at the top of the screen confirming you successfully added the recipient to your clinic.
• If you cannot find the recipient you’re looking for and still want to add the recipient to your clinic, click Back to Portal. After returning to the Recipient Management tab, click Add Recipient to add the recipient as a new recipient in VAMS.

NOTES:

• Recipients added to your clinic by using the search feature on the Other Recipients tab will remain on that tab and will not appear on the Recipient Management The Recipient Management tab will only contain recipients newly added in VAMS by your clinic staff.
• You cannot add recipients to your clinic who already have an appointment scheduled at another clinic.
• You can edit recipient details added via the Other Recipients tab as you normally would. Navigate to the Other Recipients tab, click the Recipient’s Hyperlinked Name, then click Edit Information under the Recipient Details

Export Recipients

If desired, you can use VAMS to export recipient data from your third-party clinic. You can use Export Recipient Data on the Recipient Management tab to export recipient data within a certain date and time range. Note that VAMS only exports recipients added to your third-party clinic during your specified date and time range. For example, if you added a recipient to your clinic on March 1, and you export recipient data from March 5 to March 15, the recipient you added on March 1 will not appear in your export file.

• From the Recipient Management tab, click Export Recipient Data on the left side of the screen.
• Select the Start Date/Time and End Date/Time for the recipients you want to export.
• Click Export.
• The export file will download to your device and can be opened as an Excel document.
• Your VAMS export file contains the following recipient information:
  • Date added to your clinic
  • Salutation (if applicable)
  • First name
  • Last name
  • Date of birth
  • ZIP code
  • VAMS ID
  • External system ID (if entered)
  • Email address (if provided)
  • Cell phone number (if provided)
  • Home phone number (if provided)
  • Next dose
    • Only COVID-19 vaccination details will display in a Recipient Export.
  • Vaccine name
  • If pre-vaccination actions are complete
  • Next COVID-19 vaccine eligible date (if applicable)
  • Recipient type (e.g., recipient or other recipient, if the recipient was added via the Other Recipients tab)

NOTE: You can export up to 5,000 recipient records at one time. If the export file does not successfully download to your device, please revise your export start date and time and end date and time and try again.

This section contains three steps you’ll follow to log vaccine administration in VAMS, as well as other actions to log vaccinations in VAMS.

Click on the buttons below to go to the corresponding sections in this user manual.

Steps to Log Vaccinations in Real-Time

Additional Actions

Step 1: Document Completion of Pre-vaccination Actions

You will need:

• Recipient’s name

Pre-vaccination Actions will vary by clinic but can include things such as screening the recipient for contraindications, providing the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) Fact Sheets for Recipients and Caregivers, and acquiring authorization, if required.

NOTE: Both the clinic administrator and the healthcare professional at a third-party clinic can document the completion of pre-vaccination actions.

• Search for a recipient’s record in the Vaccine Recipients table on the Recipient Management tab.
• You can search by name using the search bar in the table header. Note that you can search for full names or just the beginning of the recipient’s name. For example, you can find the record for a recipient named William Smith by searching for “Will.”
• Click a Recipient’s Name in the Vaccine Recipients table to access their recipient record.
• After accessing the recipient record from the Recipient Management tab, you will see an alert that indicates whether a recipient’s pre-vaccination actions are complete.

• • To update this response to indicate their pre-vaccination actions are complete, click Edit Information in the Recipient Details tab.
  • Select a Response from the drop-down menu under “Have the pre-vaccination actions been completed? Then, click Save.

NOTE: On the Recipient Management tab, you can filter your list view of recipients by All Vaccine Recipients (default view), New Vaccine Recipients (those who have received zero doses), Today’s Eligible Recipients, Tomorrow’s Eligible Recipients, and Vaccine Protocol Completed (those who have completed their vaccination schedule). These list views include standard recipient details such as Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Contact Information (if provided), Whether Pre-Vaccination Actions are Complete, Vaccine Status, Follow-Up Vaccination Date (if necessary),  and External System ID.

Step 2: Log Vaccination

You will need:

• Vaccine manufacturer, product, and the vaccine vial’s unit of use (UoU) information; vaccination site

NOTE: While VAMS will notify you that a reschedule prompt has been sent to the recipient’s email address, be aware that this will not apply to you or the recipient since third-party clinic recipients do not need to add email address to their record, do not have access to the Recipient Portal, and do not schedule vaccination appointments in VAMS.

Log Vaccine Information

• After completing Step 1 above, click the Vaccine Administration tab on the recipient record.
• Click View IIS Immunization Records (NOTE: Your jurisdiction will need to be opted into the IIS Querying Functionality in order to have access to the View IIS Immunization Records button). This will trigger VAMS to query the jurisdiction IIS for any immunization records and forecast data that may be available in the IIS for the chosen recipient.

• • If a match is found in the IIS for your chosen recipient, you will see a Recipient Demographic Information section. Review the demographic information to ensure that the record matches your recipient.
    • If multiple matches are found during the query, VAMS will inform you that multiple matches were found for the recipient. You can update the recipient’s information in VAMS and re-query, for a more accurate IIS response.
    • If there is no match found for your recipient during the query, VAMS will inform you that the patient record was not found, and it will direct you to contact your local jurisdiction immunization registry.
    • If the chosen recipient has opted out from the IIS sharing their data with other providers, VAMS will notify you as such.
  • The IIS Immunization Records section then provides a table list of the recipient’s IIS immunization record, with columns for Date Administered, Vaccine Type, Vaccine Product, Manufacturer, Dose Number, Lot Number, and Clinic Name.
  • The IIS Recommended Immunizations section then provides a table list of the recipient’s immunization forecast data (upcoming vaccines recommended for the recipient) based on immunization data stored for the recipient in the IIS. The table includes columns for Vaccine Type, Earliest Date (that a recipient can receive the vaccine), Recommended Date (for the recipient to receive the vaccine), and Past Due (for any vaccines that are past due for the recipient).
  • All data queried from the IIS is read-only (cannot be edited), and it shows up exactly as it was pulled from the IIS (VAMS does not censor or modify any data). This data is not stored in VAMS—it only appears each time the system queries the IIS.

• Click Log Vaccination.
• Select the vaccine(s) you want to administer as part of this appointment. Options include COVID-19 vaccine, Mpox vaccine, and routine vaccines. Answer any vaccine-specific questions and click Continue.
• On the Enter Vaccination Details page, respond to the question shown on the screen.
  • If you answer No, the recipient is ineligible for vaccination at this time, select a Reason for the unsuccessful administration from the drop-down menu and click Log Vaccination Attempt.
  • If you answer Yes, additional fields will appear for you to enter vaccine details.
• Choose the Manufacturer, Product, UoU Lot Number, Expiration Date, and Site from the drop-down menus.
• Enter the Vaccination Date and Time.

• • NOTE: The vaccination date will default to the day and time of entry, but you can backdate a vaccination event by selecting a previous date and time.

• Indicate whether any inventory was wasted during the appointment.
  • If you select Yes, you will see additional fields to detail the inventory that was wasted (e.g., vial, reason, number of doses wasted).
  • If you select No, you will not see additional fields relating to wasted inventory.

Select Vaccination Site, Date, And Time

• After logging wasted inventory (if necessary),click Log Vaccine in the bottom right of the screen.
  • NOTE: If the recipient was scheduled for a co-administration appointment, there will be another section to enter vaccination details for the additional vaccination.
• Review the vaccination details you entered on the previous page. If everything is correct, click Submit in the bottom right corner of the page.

NOTE: If you attempt to exit the log vaccination flow before completing all the steps in the process, you will see a confirmation message asking if you want to cancel vaccine administration or continue. If you cancel the administration, no data are saved in the system, including vaccine administration date, inventory recorded, or inventory wastage.

Review Vaccine Information

After clicking Submit and completing the vaccination, you can view the vaccination certificate (if applicable) in a pop-up window, click Back to Portal to return to the Recipient Management tab, or View Recipient Record to return to the recipient’s record.

Backdating Vaccination Events

• If you are unable to log vaccine administration at the time of vaccination (e.g., due to loss of internet connectivity), you can use the vaccination date and time fields to backdate vaccinations. VAMS will identify the individual who logs the vaccine in VAMS as the same person who also administered the vaccine. If you want to log a past vaccination on behalf of another healthcare professional, the information in this manual will give you detailed instructions on to do so.
• You cannot use these fields to log future dates.

NOTE: If you are logging multiple past vaccination events for one recipient, you must log the patient’s first dose of vaccine received before entering the second dose of vaccine.

Step 3: Track COVID-19 Next-Dose Eligibility (if applicable)

• After clicking Submit on the final screen, an alert appears notifying you when the recipient is eligible to receive their next dose of COVID-19 vaccine, if required for the vaccine product received.
• The vaccine data entered in the system determine the date the recipient is eligible to receive their next dose, but this will not prevent a recipient from receiving their vaccine before that date.
• If the recipient provided contact information, VAMS sends a notification to the recipient that includes the date they are eligible to receive their next dose.
• Inform the recipient of their follow-up vaccination eligibility date.
• You can view the vaccination certificate by clicking the Hyperlinked Text on the confirmation page, by accessing the recipient record, or by downloading the certificate as a PDF.
• If no further doses are required, the alert states all COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered.
• Click Back to Portal to return to the Recipient Management tab, or View Recipient Record to return to the recipient’s record.

NOTE: VAMS will only send next-dose eligibility date notification to recipients receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.

NOTE: The recipient’s vaccination certificate will only reflect the dose(s) administered in VAMS.

Record Past Vaccination(s)

You will need:

• Name or email address of the healthcare professional who administered the vaccination(s)
• Recipient’s name
• Vaccine manufacturer, product, and the vaccine vial’s unit of use (UoU) information; vaccination site, date/time of administration

In addition to logging your own vaccination events, you can use VAMS to log vaccination events on behalf of other healthcare professionals at your clinic.

• On the Recipient Management tab, select Record Past Vaccination(s) in the top right corner of the screen.
• Select Record Individually within VAMS and click the Record Past Vaccinations button.
• Search for the Healthcare Professional who administered the vaccine byname or email address.
  • Once you start typing, relevant Healthcare Professionals will populate below the search bar.
  • This can be your own email address if you are recording for yourself.
• Once you’ve found the correct Healthcare Professional, select their Name/Email Address, click Search, then click Record Vaccination(s).
  • This brings you to the Choose Recipient and Enter Vaccination Details page.
• Search for the Recipient’s Name who received the When the name populates in the drop-down list, select the Name.
  • The selected recipient’s name and date of birth will now appear below the Recipient Name search bar.
• Once the recipient’s name is selected, click Continue.
  • If there is no record of the recipient completing the pre-vaccination actions, an error message will appear stating that pre-vaccination actions must be competed. If this occurs, exit the Vaccine Administration page, complete the necessary pre-vaccination actions, and mark that the pre-vaccination actions have been completed within the Recipient Details tab before reattempting to log the vaccination.

• Select the vaccines you want to administer as part of this appointment. Options include COVID-19 vaccine, Mpox vaccine, and routine vaccines. Answer any vaccine-specific questions and click Continue.
• NOTE: On the Enter Vaccination Details page, respond to the question shown on the screen.
  • If you answer No, the recipient is ineligible for vaccination at this time, select a Reason for the unsuccessful administration from the drop-down menu and click Log Vaccination Attempt.
  • If you answer Yes, additional fields will appear for you to enter vaccine details.

• Choose the Manufacturer, Product, UoU Lot Number, Expiration Date, and Site from the drop-down menus.
• Enter the Vaccination Date and Time.
  • NOTE: The vaccination date will default to the day and time of entry, but you can backdate a vaccination event by selecting a previous date and time.

• Indicate whether any inventory was wasted during the appointment.
  • If you select Yes, you will see additional fields to detail the inventory that was wasted (e.g., vial, reason, number of doses wasted).
  • If you select No, you will not see additional fields relating to wasted inventory.
• After logging wasted inventory (if necessary), click Log Vaccine in the bottom right of the screen.

• • NOTE: If the recipient was scheduled for a co-administration appointment, there will be another section to enter vaccination details for the additional vaccination.
• Review the vaccination details you entered on the previous page. If everything is correct, click Submit in the bottom right corner of the page.

• NOTE: If you attempt to exit the log vaccination flow before completing all the steps in the process, you will see a confirmation message asking if you want to cancel vaccine administration or continue. If you cancel the administration, no data are saved in the system, including vaccine administration date, inventory recorded, or inventory wastage.
• After advancing to the successful vaccination page, you can either return to the Recipient Management tab by clicking View Portal or record additional past vaccinations by clicking Record Additional Vaccinations.

Bulk Upload Past Vaccination(s)

You will need:

• Healthcare professional’s email address who administered the vaccination(s)
• Recipient name(s), date of birth, ZIP code, status of pre-vaccination actions
• Vaccine manufacturer, product, and the vaccine vial’s unit of use UoU information; vaccination site, date of administration

In addition to logging one past vaccination at a time, you can use VAMS to bulk upload vaccinations that occurred at your clinic but were not recorded at the time of vaccination.

NOTE: You can only bulk upload vaccinations for recipients already added to your clinic.

Download and Prepare Bulk Upload Template CSV File for Offline Vaccination Administration Data

• On the Recipient Management tab, click Record Past Vaccination(s).
• Select Import a Template for Bulk Vaccination.
• Select the type of vaccine for your bulk upload.
• Click the Bulk Vaccination Upload Template hyperlink on the screen to download the latest version of the template. After clicking the link, the template file will download to your computer.
• Click the Export Recipients hyperlink. In the pop-up window, enter the Date and Time Range for when recipients were added to your clinic. Note that VAMS will only export recipients added to your third-party clinic during your specified date and time range.
• In addition to your date and time range, you can also refine your recipient export by vaccine dose and manufacturer. To export all recipients in your range regardless of dose and manufacturer, select All Doses and ensure all manufacturer checkboxes are selected. As a reminder, VAMS exports recipients based on if they were added to your clinic within your date and time range, not the recipient’s next dose eligibility date. Keep in mind that this may result in inadvertently exporting recipients who already received a dose of vaccine but are not yet eligible for their next dose.
  • Doses
    • For COVID-19 Vaccines:
      • To export all recipients in your range, select All Doses.
      • To export a list of recipients who need their first dose of vaccine, select 1st Dose.
      • To export recipients who need their second dose of vaccine, select 2nd Dose.
      • To export recipients who need their third dose of vaccine, select 3rd Dose.
      • To export recipients who need additional dose, select Additional Dose.
      • To export minor recipients (aged 5-11) who need their first dose of pediatric vaccine, select 1st Dose Pediatric Vaccine (5-11).
      • To export minor recipients (aged 5-11) who need their second dose of pediatric vaccine, select 2nd Dose Pediatric Vaccine (5-11).
      • To export minor recipients (aged 5-11) who need their third dose of pediatric vaccine, select 3rd Dose Pediatric Vaccine (5-11).
      • To export minor recipients (aged 5-11) who need an additional dose of pediatric vaccine, select Additional Dose Pediatric Vaccine (5-11).
      • To export minor recipients (aged 6 months-4 years) who need their first dose of pediatric vaccine, select 1st Dose Pediatric Vaccine (6 months to 4 years).
      • To export minor recipients (aged 6 months- 4 years) who need their second dose of pediatric vaccine, select 2nd Dose Pediatric Vaccine (6 months to 4 years).
      • To export minor recipients (aged 6 months- 4 years) who need their third dose of pediatric vaccine, select 3rd Dose Pediatric Vaccine (6 months to 4 years).
      • To export minor recipients (aged 6 months- 4 years) who need an additional dose of pediatric vaccine, select Additional Dose Pediatric Vaccine (6 months to 4 years).
    • For Mpox Vaccines:
      • To export all recipients in your range, select All Doses.
      • To export a list of recipients who need their first dose of vaccine, select 1st Dose.
      • To export recipients who need their second dose of vaccine, select 2nd Dose.
    • For MMR Vaccines:
      • To export all recipients in your range, select All Doses.
      • To export a list of recipients who need their first dose of vaccine, select 1st Dose.
      • To export recipients who need their second dose of vaccine, select 2nd Dose.
      • To export recipients who need their third dose of vaccine, select 3rd Dose.
    • For Polio Vaccines:
      • To export all recipients in your range, select All Doses.
      • To export a list of recipients who need their first dose of vaccine, select 1st Dose.
      • To export recipients who need their second dose of vaccine, select 2nd Dose.
      • To export recipients who need their third dose of vaccine, select 3rd Dose.
      • To export recipients who need their fourth dose of vaccine, select 4th Dose.Doses.
      • To export recipients who need their booster dose of vaccine, select Booster Dose. 
  • Manufacturer
    • To export recipients who need a second dose or higher of vaccine of a specific manufacturer, use the checkboxes below Manufacturer to select which manufacturer(s) you want to include in your export. For example, selecting Moderna will refine your export to only include recipients who have already received one dose of Moderna and were added to your clinic within the specified range.
    • By default, all manufacturer checkboxes are selected. This will export all recipients within your range and dose criteria regardless of manufacturer.
• Click Export.
• Copy and paste the contents of the recipient export file into the Bulk Vaccination Upload Template.
  • This template has the same first few columns as the export template to allow for a simple copy and paste of the data.
• In the remaining columns of the bulk upload template, use the cell drop-down options and enter data to complete the recipients’ vaccination records.
• Save the file as a CSV UTF-8 (comma delimited) (.csv) file. You can find this option under the Save As drop-down menu in Excel.

Upload Populated Bulk Vaccination Upload Template

• On the Record Past Vaccination(s) page, click Upload Files to upload the populated Bulk Vaccination Upload Template into VAMS. You can also drag and drop your file in the Drop Files area of the page.
• After importing vaccinations, the following processes automatically occur in VAMS:
  • A message will appear on the screen that your file is in the import queue.
  • After your file has been processed, you will receive an email from vams@cdc.gov, stating it is uploaded.
  • A result log will appear on the Data Imports tab under the Vaccination Import list view.
• To view your bulk upload, click the Data Imports tab.
  • Here you can switch between Recipient Import and Vaccination Import list views.
• On the Vaccination Import list view, you can view your import ID, the number of records in the file, the number of records successfully uploaded, and the number of records that failed to upload.
• Select the blue hyperlinked Import ID to view the import file and a results log, which you can download to view the upload status for each recipient vaccination record.
• Click the Blue Hyperlinked Title for each file to download it to your device.
  • Once you have opened the result log, you can scroll to the right until you see the status column. This status column shows whether a vaccination was uploaded in the system.
  • All vaccinations with a status of Success have been uploaded in VAMS.
  • All vaccinations with statuses including an error message were not uploaded in VAMS and the message will tell you why.

NOTES:

• You can only bulk upload:
  • vaccinations for recipients already added to your clinic.
  • vaccinations using inventory already logged at your clinic.
  • vaccinations administered by healthcare professionals already added to your clinic.
• You must use the most recent version of the Bulk Vaccination Upload Template when uploading a list of vaccinations in VAMS. An error message will appear at the top of your screen if you attempt to upload vaccinations with an outdated Bulk Vaccination Upload Template.
• Required fields in the Bulk Vaccination Upload Template are marked with an asterisk (*).

Search For, Edit, and Invalidate Past Vaccination Records

You will need:

• Recipient’s email address or VAMS ID; or first and last name, and date of birth

Search for Past Recipient Vaccination Records

• On the Recipient Management tab or Other Recipients tab, select the Name of the recipient you want to review.
• Once in the Recipient Record, navigate to the Vaccine Administration tab.
• On this tab, you can view information on any vaccine(s) administered to the recipient.
• Click the View Record link on the right side of the Vaccines Administered table for a detailed view of the administered vaccine.

Edit Past Recipient Vaccination Records

• To edit the vaccination record, click Edit Record on the recipient’s Vaccination Record 
• Update any information you need to edit, then select a Reason for Record Update from the drop-down menu in the pop-up window and click Save.

Invalidate Past Recipient Vaccination Records

In addition to editing the vaccination record, you can also invalidate vaccination records that were entered in error on the Vaccination Record page.

• To invalidate a vaccination record, click Invalidate Record at the top of the Vaccination Record Details page.
• Select a Reason for Record Invalidation from the drop-down menu, then click Yes to confirm you want to invalidate the record.

NOTES:

• This feature can be used to review recipient vaccination records for recipients added to your clinic.
• Recipients have one vaccination record for each dose received.
• You can only edit/invalidate vaccination records for doses administered at your clinic.

This section will show you how to perform other tasks in VAMS that occur less frequently than the tasks described in this user manual, such as accessing VAMS support, or actions that will only apply to certain users, such as those who work at multiple clinics.

Click on the buttons below to go to the corresponding sections in this user manual.

Access Multiple Clinics in VAMS

You may need to perform the same or different user roles at multiple clinics. After the clinic administrator at each clinic adds you as a user for their clinic, you can easily access multiple clinics after logging into VAMS.

• From any page in VAMS, click the Drop-Down Arrow next to your name in the upper right corner to access the drop-down menu.
• Click Switch Portals.
  • If you have multi-portal access (i.e., you have access to more than one portal—Clinic Portal and Recipient Portal, for example) this will take you to the Portal Selection page. Click the Clinic Portal button, then you will see the Clinic Selection page.
  • If you only have multi-clinic access (i.e., you have a clinic role at more than one clinic but do not have access to another portal) clicking Switch Portals will take you straight to the Clinic Selection page.
• From the Clinic Selection page, choose which clinic you want to switch to by clicking the Access Portal button under the clinic name.

VAMS Downtime Procedures

VAMS is occasionally taken down for scheduled system maintenance. All VAMS functions are unavailable for all users during these scheduled downtimes. You will be notified prior to scheduled system downtimes.

All users should consider any processes they may need to complete prior to the downtime, such as:

• Reviewing inventory requests
• Downloading data reports
• Completing pre-vaccination actions and viewing/printing vaccination certificates
  • QUICK TIP: If you need help with access to vaccination certificates, visit the quick reference guide, “Accessing Vaccination Certificates in VAMS”.

Clinics should consider these temporary processes so they can continue to administer vaccine successfully during downtimes:

• Review your upcoming appointments to see if your clinic has scheduled appointments during this time.
• Print or otherwise document the names of recipients who have appointments during this time.
• Print CDC’s Pre-vaccination Screening Checklist
• Print FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization Fact Sheets, if necessary
• Print CDC’s Immunization Information System Data Requirement Form to document the vaccine administration information so you can add it into VAMS when the system comes back online.
• Make a plan to enter the data from these appointments in VAMS as soon as possible.
  • You can backdate vaccinations using the Record Past Vaccination(s) button on the Recipient Management tab. You can record vaccinations you administered or record them on behalf of another healthcare professional. You can learn more about this functionality in Vaccine Administration.

VAMS Downtime: Frequently Asked Questions

User Access Support

Quick Tip: Some users may not be able to access VAMS and may request your help in gaining access. A quick reference guide on troubleshooting for user access is available with a list of solutions. Additional FAQs about accessing VAMS can be found on the “Getting Started in VAMS” page. You can also find support within VAMS by clicking the Help Link in the upper right corner of the navigation bar.

Submit a Question to the VAMS Help Desk

• From the Help page, click Submit a Question.
• Click Submit a Case and select New Clinic Case.
• When logged into the system, your name and email address will be prepopulated in your case.
• Select the Category of your question (and subcategory, if applicable), select your Jurisdiction, type the Subject of your question, then type your Question in the text box.
• After clicking Confirm, a message will appear on the screen confirming your question was sent.
• Once you receive a response to your question, you can communicate back and forth with the support team by replying to the email.

NOTE: Do not edit the subject line of the email or the support team member who initially responded to your question will not receive it.