ImmunizationEvaluation — Vaccine dose validation
Does this dose count in the official schedule? ImmunizationEvaluation carries the verdict: valid, not-valid, sub-potent, expired, contraindicated.
Purpose
ImmunizationEvaluation is the retrospective analysis of a given Immunization. The official immunisation registry (or the CDS forecaster) checks the dose against the schedule rules and declares whether it counts in the current series, must be repeated, is over-dosed, or contra-indicated.
Distinct from ImmunizationRecommendation which suggests the next dose. Evaluation = past, Recommendation = future.
Key fields
| Field | Type | Cardinality | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
status | code | 1..1 | completed or entered-in-error |
patient | Reference(Patient) | 1..1 | Patient assessed. |
date | dateTime | 0..1 | Evaluation date. |
targetDisease | CodeableConcept | 1..1 | Disease targeted (SNOMED CT or VS). |
immunizationEvent | Reference(Immunization) | 1..1 | Assessed Immunization. |
doseStatus | CodeableConcept | 1..1 | valid, not-valid, sub-potent, expired, contraindicated. |
doseNumber[x] | positiveInt | string | 0..1 | Dose rank in the series. |
seriesDoses[x] | positiveInt | string | 0..1 | Total doses planned in the series. |
JSON example
Valid DTP schedule dose 1:{
"resourceType": "ImmunizationEvaluation",
"id": "example",
"status": "completed",
"patient": { "reference": "Patient/example" },
"date": "2026-05-16",
"targetDisease": {
"coding": [{ "system": "http://snomed.info/sct", "code": "397430003", "display": "Diphtheria caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae" }]
},
"immunizationEvent": { "reference": "Immunization/example" },
"doseStatus": {
"coding": [{ "system": "http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/immunization-evaluation-dose-status", "code": "valid", "display": "Valid" }]
},
"doseNumberPositiveInt": 1,
"seriesDosesPositiveInt": 3
}Common pitfalls
- Evaluation without parent Immunization: the resource is meaningless on its own.
- Non-standard doseStatus: use the HL7 CodeSystem, not a local code.
- Evaluation / Recommendation confusion: Evaluation qualifies a past dose. Recommendation suggests a future dose.
Related resources
- Immunization — The vaccination performed.
- ImmunizationRecommendation — The next-dose proposal.
- Patient — The beneficiary.