VAERS Clinician

Minimum Qualifications Summary

• Clinical background (e.g., physician assistant, nurse practitioner, registered nurse); MDs are welcome to apply.

Certification & Education

• Clinical background (e.g., physician assistant, nurse practitioner, registered nurse); MDs are welcome to apply.

Experience Required

• Prior experience with medical abstraction.
• Knowledge of, and experience with, vaccine safety or infectious diseases is preferred.
• MedDRA coding experience (preferred – but not required).

Job Objective

This work will support the U.S. COVID‑19 vaccination program’s vaccine safety programs, as well as any other vaccine used during a public health response conducted by CDC. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a mandated program sponsored jointly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The purpose of this project is to provide a single nationwide mechanism to report, analyze and monitor vaccine adverse events (VAEs) that occur after receipt of vaccines. It also provides a vehicle for disseminating vaccine safety information to vaccines, family members, health care providers, vaccine manufacturers, government agencies, and other partners.

For the VAERS Clinician position, personnel will provide medical officer/epidemiologist support services for the VAERS program. This position requires access to Personally Identifying Information (PII) and personnel will be required to obtain a CDC Public Trust Level‑5 background clearance.

Responsibilities

• Must sign a CDC VAERS Rules of Behavior (ROB) form.
• Gain access to the VAERS VPN and the internal CDC VAERS abstraction website (working with CDC staff).
• Review VAERS reports, learn how to conduct medical record abstraction, and how to enter data into the internal CDC VAERS abstraction website.
• Review VAERS AESI reports (working with CDC staff). Up to 25 VAERS reports will be assigned per day for review.
• Perform a review of available VAERS reports and associated medical records, if available, for each assigned report.
• Perform data entry from the assigned reviews. These reviews will be via CDC electronic form, consisting mostly of check boxes and free text fields. The medical record review will determine if the reported AESI meets a published case definition (if available). Medical record reviews will follow CDC VAERS Standard Operating Procedures. All published case definitions will be provided to the vendor.
• Request medical records from health care providers/systems located in the United States on behalf of VAERS.
• Conduct literature reviews on new vaccine safety outcomes of concern or AESI.
• Respond to inquiries received by the public, health departments, and providers. This may include reviewing the VAERS database, conducting literature reviews to provide published data as it pertains to the inquiry, and drafting a response to the inquiry. The response will be shared with the CDC VAERS inquiries lead and the VAERS team lead or designee.
• Work with CDC VAERS staff to resolve any questions or concerns related to VAERS reviews.
• Be prepared to attend up to 3 meetings per week.

Education & Certification

• Clinical background (e.g., physician assistant, nurse practitioner); MDs are welcome to apply.

Minimum Qualifications

• Have a clinical background (e.g., physician assistant, nurse practitioner, registered nurse); MDs are welcome to apply.
• Have good interpersonal and communication skills (written and oral).
• Ability to prioritize tasks and function in a potentially fast‑paced, dynamic environment.
• Prior experience with medical abstraction and knowledge of and experience with vaccine safety or infectious diseases is preferred.
• Ability to obtain a CDC Public Trust Level‑5 background clearance.

Work Location

Remote (onboarding will occur at the CDC in Atlanta, GA).

About Lukos

Lukos delivers professional services to the Department of Defense. Lukos has been one of the most successful and most diversified support companies for U.S. Special Operations Command and its components for over a decade. Since our founding, we have grown to support all military services and multiple federal civilian agencies.

About Our Name: Lukos is ancient Greek for “wolf”. The characteristics of the wolf match our approach to national security. The wolf is known for cunning, aggression, patience, and teamwork. An individual wolf is smart, strong, and resilient, but the true strength of wolves is their ability to work together as a wolfpack. Kipling said it best in The Law of the Jungle.

“For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”

Lukos is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or national origin.