About Us

The Immunization Action Coalition

IAC Mission Statement
The Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) works to increase immunization rates and prevent disease by creating and distributing educational materials for health professionals and the public that enhance the delivery of safe and effective immunization services. The Coalition also facilitates communication about the safety, efficacy, and use of vaccines within the broad immunization community of patients, parents, health care organizations, and government health agencies.
For more than a decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has worked in concert with and provided financial support to IAC for the purpose of educating health professionals about U.S. vaccine recommendations. CDC recognized IAC's accomplishments in 1997 by awarding it the prestigious Partners in Public Health Award for efforts "instrumental in achieving high levels of routine infant hepatitis B immunization."
Physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals at every level of the immunization community, including both the public and private sectors, rely on many of the following projects in their daily work to increase immunization rates across the lifespan.

IAC Websites
Website for Health Professionals www.immunize.org
Launched in 1994, one of the earliest websites devoted to immunization, www.immunize.org is the largest resource for practical, user-friendly immunization information available today, serving almost 14,000 visitors per day. The website houses all of IAC's informational handouts, which are available free of charge, and users are encouraged to reproduce and redistribute the materials. This website also makes available all Vaccine Information Statements (VISs) published in the United States in up to 50 languages and some alternative formats. In the past twelve months, users downloaded more than three million ready-to-copy (PDF) documents from the website.
IAC makes daily additions and updates to the content of www.immunize.org. In the past year, we completed new home pages for the "Diseases & Vaccines" and "Immunization Topics" sections; created a new web page called "Providing Vaccination Services" and populated it with links to other sections of the website; enhanced our "Handouts" section by offering readers the ability to sort the materials by Clinic Procedure, by Vaccine, or by Topic; created a new web section titled "Honor Roll for Patient Safety" to recognize healthcare organizations with stellar employee influenza vaccination policies and to share the details of model policies; launched a new web section to accommodate H1N1-influenza-related materials, including VISs, Ask the Experts questions and answers, and print materials; added new content to our Vaccine Concerns web section countering "Dr. Sears' Alternative Schedule;" developed a dynamic reference tool called the "Language Locator" to associate languages with the countries where they are spoken; and developed a Video of the Week feature and archive.
Chiefly as a result of the thousands of authoritative links to the website from across the Web, www.immunize.org continues its longstanding high ranking in search engines. For example, it is currently ranked #1 on Google when using the word "immunize" and #5 when using the word "immunization."
IAC expert staff continually review the recent immunization literature and select articles dealing with practical topics such as parental concerns about vaccines, providing vaccination services, immunization exemptions, and many others, and present links to those articles on the website. These selected articles, currently numbering more than 3,500, provide IAC's professional audience with the ability to quickly keep up-to-date with the literature, finding the latest articles on topics of importance to them.
IAC staff maintain and post (www.immunize.org/laws) a roster of state mandates for various vaccines (e.g., varicella, PCV) and policy issues (e.g., states that authorize pharmacists to administer vaccines). This information, obtained from news clippings, health department newsletters, and direct from state staff, is validated by checking with legislative websites and contacts with program managers. As a result, it is the most up-to-date listing of state immunization requirements.

Another useful and continually updated feature of www.immunize.org is its Calendar of Events. IAC staff maintain a listing of government meetings related to immunization, professional education courses, conferences, awareness days and weeks, and other events of interest.
Website for the Public and Health Professionals www.vaccineinformation.org
Developed in consultation with CDC, this website for patients, parents, providers, and the media presents straightforward information about vaccine-preventable diseases and their vaccines. Launched in August 2002 with sole funding from CDC, it currently serves about 7,500 visitors per day. The website contains information about vaccine safety and the overall importance of immunization; it currently features 262 vaccine-preventable disease photos and 118 video clips. The site also has links to VISs, immunization and disease statistics, state immunization laws, state health department websites, and other topics.
Online Database of Immunization Coalitions www.izcoalitions.org
Launched in 2001, this website provides access to an online database of local, state, regional, national, and international immunization coalitions. The database allows healthcare professionals, parents, and other immunization advocates to contact immunization coalitions for resources, ideas, or volunteering. Currently, 183 immunization coalitions have entered information about their structure and activities.

IAC Publications
Needle Tips (NT)
From its first issue in 1994 through the December 2008 issue, IAC distributed more than 4.25 million paper copies of NT-as many as 235,000 copies per issue, delivered to virtually every pediatrician, family physician, and pediatric nurse practitioner nationwide, as well as to every local and state health department. A move to online-only publication occurred with the first issue of 2009. NT was traditionally a 24-page, CDC-reviewed publication that came out twice each year; going forward we plan to publish six issues annually. Frontline healthcare professionals rely on NT for its up-to-date, practice-oriented information on the recommendations for childhood, adolescent, and adult immunization. NT is the only publication of its kind in the United States. Current and past issues are available on our website at www.immunize.org/nt.
Vaccinate Adults (VA)
Like NT, VA converted to online publication in 2009. It was first published in 1997, and more than 2.8 million paper copies have been distributed to an average of 160,000 adult medicine specialists per issue. VA has been a 12‑page, semiannual publication targeted at internal medicine specialists, cardiologists, pulmonologists, infectious disease specialists, occupational medicine specialists, nephrologists, and geriatricians; in accordance with our plans for NT, the frequency of VA will increase. Every issue is CDC-reviewed and provides succinctly written descriptions of adult immunization recommendations. Current and past issues are available on our website at www.immunize.org/va.
IAC Express (IACX)
Currently emailed free of charge to more than 36,000 opt-in subscribers every Monday, IACX provides up-to-date information about FDA vaccine approvals, new ACIP and AAP vaccine recommendations, newly released Vaccine Information Statements, new immunization resources and current events, and journal articles. "Front-line" healthcare professionals, as well as local and state health departments, rely on IACX for the critical information they need in their day-to-day work. The current issue as well as the more than 850 issues published since IACX's inception in 1997 are available online at www.immunize.org/express.
Unprotected People (UP) Reports
Since 1998, IAC has collected and published personal stories and case reports of people who have suffered or died from vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs). We believe that UP reports are extremely important in providing parents, the media, and clinicians the information they need to help balance discussions on the value of vaccines. These reports can be particularly effective in countering stories claiming harm from vaccines. Currently, 104 reports are available online at www.immunize.org/reports.
Handouts
IAC is the most relied-upon source of CDC-reviewed immunization materials for healthcare professionals and their patients, providing over three million downloads in the past year. We create, update, and distribute more than 250 separate educational pieces including such widely used and reprinted items as:
  • Summary of Recommendations for Childhood and Adolescent Immunization
  • Summary of Recommendations for Adult Immunization
  • Screening Questionnaire for Child and Teen Immunization
  • Screening Questionnaire for Adult Immunization
  • How to Administer IM and SC Injections
  • Immunizations for Babies: A Guide for Parents
  • When do Children and Teens Need Vaccinations?
  • Vaccine Administration Record for Children and Teens

CDC's 2009 The Pink Book (Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases) includes 12 reprinted IAC pieces as well as links to IAC's resources. All educational materials are available online free of charge at www.immunize.org/handouts. We have translated 22 of our patient/parent pieces into Spanish and some into six additional languages: Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Arabic, and French.

Additional IAC Materials
Immunization Techniques: Best Practices with Infants, Children, and Adults (DVD)
Created by the California Department of Public Health, Immunization Branch, 2010, this 25-minute training video teaches best practices for administering injectable, oral, and nasal vaccines to people of all ages.
Personal Immunization Record Cards
In collaboration with CDC, and with input from several state health departments, IAC has created three versions of a personal immunization record card for recording vaccination histories. Versions are available for children, adults, and across-the-lifespan use. To date, more than 6 million adult cards, 200,000 child/teen cards, and almost 800,000 lifetime record cards have been distributed.
Laminated Immunization Schedules
In March 2006, IAC began producing durable versions of CDC's Recommended Immunization Schedules (for children, adolescents, and adults) for convenient use in medical practices. IAC's copies of the schedules are printed on 80# cardstock, laminated for heavy-duty use, and printed in vivid colors for easy reading. IAC has distributed more than 170,000 laminated schedules.
Influenza Vaccination Pocket Guide
In collaboration with the National Influenza Vaccine Summit, IAC develops and distributes a laminated influenza vaccination pocket guide prior to each influenza season. The guide provides front-line healthcare personnel with information about persons for whom the vaccine is recommended and about the vaccine. Between 500,000 and 1 million pocket guides have been distributed each year since 2005 to more than a dozen national medical professional and specialty societies, state health departments, and many other organizations.

Form 990
IAC's IRS Form 990s are available from GuideStar, a repository of financial information about nonprofits. Register to view this information (it's free).
 
This page was reviewed on July 28, 2010
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Immunization Action Coalition  •  1573 Selby Avenue  •  Saint Paul, MN 55104
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