Measles

As of February 6, 2026, Washington state has 19 confirmed measles cases. As measles continues to surge nationally and, in our state, DOH urges MMR vaccination and encourage providers to review the interim pediatric measles outbreak vaccination recommendations. Please remain alert for potential measles cases or measles-like symptoms, especially among people who visited public exposure locations listed on the Washington State Measles Public Exposure Location Tracker or recently travelled.  

If measles is suspected, immediately contact DOH’s Communicable Disease Epi Vaccine Preventable Disease team or call 206-418-5500 any time, 24/7, to request prompt diagnostic testing at Washington’s Public Health Lab.   

Additional resources:

• Measles Cases in Washington State
• MMR Vaccine Recommendations
• Measles | Washington State Department of Health
• Measles Post-Exposure Prophylaxis for Susceptible Contacts
• Measles Immunization Response Guide
• CDC Measles Cases and Outbreaks
• Documenting Measles Immunity in WAIIS
• How to Identify Patients Overdue for MMR
• Documenting Historical Vaccinations in the WAIIS
  • YouTube: 2026 Best Practices for Entering Historical Vaccines in the WAIIS
  • Presentation slides (PDF)

For vaccine questions, please email immunenurses@doh.wa.gov.

MyIR Posters and Flyers

MyIR posters and flyers are now available to order, and shipping is free for a limited time.  Orders are limited to 10 posters and/or 100 flyers. 

To request a PDF version or to order a higher quantity, email MyIR@doh.wa.gov.

IIS Data Quality Tip of the Month

Patient Matching

Patient matching (deduplication) is performed each time a vaccination record is sent from your EHR system to WAIIS. This helps ensure the correct patient records in WAIIS are updated in a timely manner. The process depends heavily on complete and accurate patient demographic information submitted from your EHR.

WAIIS requires the following data elements for accurate matching, and they must be included with each record: medical or chart number, patient name, date of birth, gender, address, phone number, race, and ethnicity. 

Some tips that will help improve patient matching, timeliness of updates, and reduce the number of bad merges are as follows: 

• Full legal names (first, middle and last) should be submitted with each record. The following special characters are allowed: single quote, dash, period, or space.
• Medical/chart numbers must be unique for each patient. Non-unique numbers may result in bad merges.
• Complete addresses should include the street, city, state, and zip code.
• Guardian name and relationship type should be submitted for all kids 18 years and younger.
• Multiple Birth Indicator and Birth Order: For patients who are part of a multiple birth (e.g., twins or triplets), flag the patient record in your EHR as a multiple birth and indicate the birth order. This will help prevent the sibling records from being incorrectly merged.

Please reach out to us at iisdataexchange@doh.wa.gov with any questions about patient matching. 

WAIIS Training Survey

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