11/24/2021 9:44:40 AM
Editor’s Note: The blog post is taken from the original Tekne Award nomination that tells the story of the COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard. On November, 17, 2021 Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) was honored and proud to accept an award for the COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard from the Minnesota Technology Association 2021 Tekne Awards for Data Analytics/Business Enablement Through Technology. The Minnesota Technology Association (MnTech) announced winners for the 24th annual 2021 Tekne Awards, Minnesota’s premier celebration of innovation and achievement amongst leaders in the state’s technology industry. We congratulate the staff from MNIT and the Minnesota Department of Health for their extraordinary efforts on this project that keeps Minnesotans informed with accurate, timely and pertinent data.
By Kendall Johnson, Communications and External Relations Manager, Minnesota IT Services
On January 12, 2021, Minnesota launched the COVID-19 vaccine dashboard on the state’s COVID-19 response website to detail the progress of COVID-19 vaccine allocation, distribution, and administration across Minnesota. The dashboard, produced by MNIT and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), provides a visual and user-friendly way to view key vaccination data for the state. The dashboard includes information on the number of doses promised (allocated) to the state by the federal government; shipped to Minnesota providers; and administered to Minnesotans. The dashboard used data that MDH pulled together through multiple avenues, such as MDH’s immunization information system. It could be updated to better answer Minnesotans’ questions as the COVID-19 response evolved, including adding race, ethnicity, and other demographic data.
The COVID-19 vaccine dashboard took complex data sets from a variety of sources and displayed them in a user-friendly format to answer the public’s questions about vaccine distribution. The dashboard, and the data behind it, was collected from:
The dashboard is a final product for the complex data collection and distribution efforts to communicate about COVID-19 vaccine information. MDH created the data management processes and published the information statically on their public websites. The dynamic data dashboard on the state’s COVID-19 response site allowed Minnesotans to access the information in a way that could be updated as the pandemic evolved.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, MDH and the State of Minnesota sought avenues to clearly communicate ongoing efforts for COVID-19 mitigation. As vaccines became available, the public had questions about how the limited supply would be distributed, who was receiving vaccines, and whether the state was meeting its goals. Reporters wanted access to the data to validate vaccine distribution, Minnesotans called public hotlines with questions, and conflicting information swirled around social media channels that was difficult to address. MDH developed a data management process to showcase vaccine distribution data on different web pages on the MDH website, but it was not updated daily, was not interactive, nor was it easy to tie the story of vaccine distribution together for all of Minnesota.
As vaccine distribution information changed on an almost daily basis in January 2021, the State of Minnesota knew it needed a public place to provide all the information, daily, in an-easy-to-read format, that could be updated efficiently. MDH worked with MNIT to take the static data files and create a public data dashboard using Microsoft Power BI. The dashboard allowed Minnesotans to tie pieces of vaccine information together to get a complete picture of distribution in the state. They could visually see who was getting the vaccine, which vaccine various populations received, and how providers were meeting their initial vaccination goals. The dashboard also needed to be developed with flexibility in mind. Vaccine supply was limited in January 2021 and there was an intense focus on ensuring that shots were in the arms of Minnesotans within a timeframe. When availability expanded, and the state had new partnerships within the health care sector, equity and social vulnerability metrics were added to the dashboard. The dashboard provided a transparent and definitive place for Minnesotans to receive information, promoting trust in government.
For state government, the COVID-19 vaccine dashboard created a unique partnership between MDH, MNIT, health care organizations, local public health entities, and more, to combine complex information to simply answer the public’s questions. This was one of the first public data dashboards for the State of Minnesota that met an immediate public need during a crisis. This dashboard changed how data is shared with Minnesotans, built with their needs in mind, to provide data responses and be an accessible source of truth for the average person.
Minnesota was among the early adopter states for sharing this data in this way. MNIT and MDH worked with the vendor to provide load support during launch. The data visualization tool had not been used on a page that had the level of traffic that Minnesota’s COVID-19 website was experiencing at launch (see Figure 1 in “what the peaks in data represent” in the attachment). The level of public interest in this information was new. The dashboard was designed by MNIT to withstand the high traffic and to optimize performance during those peak periods. It was important that Minnesotans could toggle between different data visualization tabs, such as “Who’s getting vaccinated” and “distribution” – all of which were pulled from different data sources – without lags in load time to answer their specific questions about vaccination distribution. The tool also allowed MNIT and MDH to add additional data for the public to view as the pandemic evolved. From launch to Aug. 3, 2021, the vaccine dashboard had over 2.9 million pageviews and over 215,000 downloads of the static CSV files on the webpage. Reporters from the Star Tribune, MPR, and other outlets used the dashboard data to report on vaccine distribution across the state.
The first accomplishment was the COVID-19 vaccine dashboard public launch on January 12, 2021. At launch, only 7,000 Minnesotans had completed their vaccination series, and the state had a three-day goal from when vaccine providers received a vaccination dose, to when it went into the arms of a Minnesotan. The dashboard needed to show those Minnesotans that were not yet eligible or could not receive a vaccine due to limited supply, how the state was progressing on that goal, and where shots were currently being allocated. This launch improved efficiency for MDH to communicate with the public and media, which included giving access to reporters to write their own scripts to validate and share the data. Reporters from the Star Tribune, MPR, and other outlets used the dashboard data to report on vaccine distribution across the state.
Another key success was adding vaccination data by race and ethnicity on March 5, 2021. This was made possible through the groundbreaking partnership between the State of Minnesota and the Minnesota Electronic Health Record (EHR) Consortium. This unique and innovative collaboration between public health and health systems was the first statewide effort of its kind in the United States. The data informed additional, targeted strategies to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccine to Minnesotans of all races and ethnicities, including communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 because of systemic inequities. Gaps identified by this data led to additional programming for communities disproportionally affected by COVID-19, such as the expansion of community-based vaccination sites, mobile vaccination units, and the Small Chain Independent Pharmacies (SCIP) pilot program.
To improve the efficiency of the team managing the data behind the dashboard, MDH developed a process using Microsoft Teams to collaborate behind the scenes.
Minnesota IT Services (MNIT), led by the state’s Chief Information Officer, is the Information Technology agency for Minnesota’s executive branch, providing enterprise and local IT services to over 70 agencies, boards, councils, and commissions. Together, we partner to deliver secure, reliable technology solutions to improve the lives of all Minnesotans. MNIT sets IT strategy, direction, policies, and standards for enterprise IT leadership and planning. Through public private partnerships, our team proactively protects the state’s information systems and the private data of 5.6 million Minnesotans.
The Minnesota Technology Association (MnTech) is a coalition of more than 200 member companies united in building a stronger tech ecosystem and innovation economy in Minnesota. Formerly known as the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA), the organization works to ensure that Minnesota’s technology-driven companies have access to exceptional talent, dedicated public policy advocates, and are part of an innovative, inclusive technology community. Learn more at www.mntech.org.
