Immunisation registers in Canada: progress made- current situation- and challenges for the future.

Immunisation registers have the capacity to capture data on the administration of vaccine doses at the individual level within the population and represent an important tool in assessing immunisation coverage and vaccine uptake. In 1999- the National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommended that a network of immunisation registers be established in Canada. The Canadian Immunization Registry Network (CIRN) was established to coordinate the development of standards and facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experience to develop a national network of such registers. In 2003- the National Immunization Strategy identified immunisation registers as an important component in improving national immunisation surveillance. In addition- there has been consistent public and professional interest in a national immunisation register being available and considerable progress has been made in developing technologies to facilitate the capture of immunisation-related data. More specifically- the automated identificatio