Issue 1040: February 19, 2013
TOP STORIES
FEATURED RESOURCES
JOURNAL ARTICLES
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
TOP STORIES
New! February 2013 issue of Needle Tips now online
The February 2013 issue of Needle Tips is now online.
This issue of Needle Tips gives healthcare professionals up-to-date information on Tdap vaccination during pregnancy and CDC's new guidelines for vaccine storage and handling. It also includes newly updated versions of the popular Summary of Recommendations for Child/Teen Immunization and Summary of Recommendations for Adult Immunization. As always, the issue features the "Ask the Experts" column from CDC medical epidemiologist Andrew T. Kroger, MD, MPH; nurse educator Donna L. Weaver, RN, MN; and medical officer Iyabode Akinsanya-Beysolow, MD, MPH. And last but not least, Litjen (L.J) Tan, MS, PhD, joins the staff of IAC as chief strategy officer.
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IAC revises its two most popular staff educational materials, Summary of Recommendations for Child/Teen Immunization and Summary of Recommendations for Adult Immunization
IAC recently updated its two most popular educational resources for healthcare professionals. Both the Summary of Recommendations for Child/Teen Immunization and the Summary of Recommendations for Adult Immunization were revised to include updated ACIP recommendations.
IAC's Handouts for Patients and Staff web section offers healthcare professionals and the public more than 250 FREE English-language handouts (many also available in translation), which we encourage website users to print out, copy, and distribute widely.
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New! Vaccineinformation.org offers personal testimonies on vaccine-preventable diseases, organized by age group and disease
The recent relaunch of www.vaccineinformation.org – “Vaccine Information You Need” website – features Personal Testimonies about vaccine-preventable diseases and the value of immunization. The collection of almost 75 compelling and eye-opening reports can be used to educate staff and patients about the importance of immunization. The testimonies are organized by age group and disease. IAC recently posted Ramona's Story about a grandmother and her baby granddaughter's experience with pertussis (whooping cough).
Additionally, this section offers links to similar resources from our immunization partners such as personal stories from Every Child By Two, California Immunization Coalition’s Shot by Shot website, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center, Families Fighting Flu, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, and National Meningitis Association and the book “The Forgotten Story” from the Texas Children’s Hospital.
Related Links
Do you have a personal account, remembrance, or patient story to share with others? Please upload your photo and document via IAC's Submit Your Story form.
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Clinicians: The Influenza Vaccine Availability Tracking System (IVATS) can help you find influenza vaccine
The National Influenza Vaccine Summit regularly posts updated information to the Influenza Vaccine Availability Tracking System (IVATS). A resource for healthcare settings looking to purchase influenza vaccine, IVATS contains information from approved, enrolled, and participating wholesale vaccine distributors or manufacturers of U.S. licensed influenza vaccine. Ongoing updates are being made and will continue to be made throughout the 2012–13 influenza vaccination season. Keep checking back.
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FEATURED RESOURCES
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases relaunches its adolescent vaccination website
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) recently updated and relaunched its adolescent website. Besides streamlining the information, NFID also added a number of new resources, including the following:
- 2013 Calendar of Sample Tweets and Status Updates provides an outline of holidays, health observances, and conferences with corresponding Tweets/Facebook status updates that you can use to spread the word about the importance of adolescent immunization.
- NFID News Blog shares insights and important updates from NFID leaders on vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases. You are invited to subscribe to the blog.
Check out www.adolescentvaccination.org to view these new resources for consumers and healthcare professionals.
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Influenza continues to spread and is serious; vaccination is recommended for nearly everyone, so please keep vaccinating your patients
Vaccination remains the single most effective means of preventing influenza. Vaccination is recommended for everyone age 6 months and older, so please continue to vaccinate your patients. If you don't provide influenza vaccination in your clinic, please recommend vaccination to your patients and refer them to the HealthMap Vaccine Finder to locate sites near their workplaces or homes that offer influenza vaccination services.
If you are seeking influenza vaccine for your clinic, check the Influenza Vaccine Availability Tracking System (IVATS), which is a resource for healthcare settings looking to purchase influenza vaccine. The IVATS chart contains information from approved, enrolled, and participating wholesale vaccine distributors or manufacturers of U.S. licensed influenza vaccine. Information is updated on an ongoing basis.
Following is a list of resources related to influenza disease and vaccination for healthcare professionals and the public.
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Hepatitis B and C educational postcards available in Pacific Islander languages
The Hawai`i State Department of Health and Hep Free Hawai`i recently released hepatitis B and C educational postcards developed with the help of Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Available languages include English, Chuukese, Ilocano, Marshallese, Samoan, and Tongan.
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JOURNAL ARTICLES
CDC publishes article about chronic hepatitis B and C virus infection reporting in Michigan
CDC published Completeness of Reporting of Chronic Hepatitis B and C Virus Infection—Michigan, 1995–2008 in the February 15 issue of MMWR (pages 99-102). A summary made available to the press is reprinted below.
In response to a recommendation from the Institute of Medicine, CDC conducted this study as a first step in better understanding the completeness of reporting of cases of these chronic infections to national surveillance systems. In conjunction with partners at the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) and an urban health care system in southeastern Michigan, CDC researchers compared confirmed cases of chronic HBV and HCV infection among individuals enrolled in a chronic hepatitis cohort study to cases reported to MDCH’s viral hepatitis disease registry. Overall, 82 percent of the chronic HBV cases and 65 percent of the HCV cases were also reported to the state surveillance system. Although basic demographic data were included for most reported cases, risk factor data were rarely reported. Recently diagnosed cases were more likely to be reported than older cases, which researchers attribute to a new laboratory and provider-based electronic reporting system. Despite this progress, additional and more efficient methods are still needed to improve reporting. This research provides a model that can be used to evaluate completeness of viral hepatitis surveillance in other states.
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EDUCATION AND TRAINING
CDC adds modules on vaccine storage and handling and the VFC program to its "You Call the Shots" training course
CDC recently announced the addition of new Vaccine Storage and Handling and Vaccines for Children (VFC) modules to NCIRD's web-based training course "You Call the Shots." Continuing Education (CE) credit is available for viewing a module and completing an evaluation.
Related Link
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| IAC Video Library: The recent relaunch of www.vaccineinformation.org – “Vaccine Information You Need” website – features an impressive Video Library. The collection of almost 100 videos (check back often as IAC will be repopulating the collection weekly) is searchable by keyword and by a preset "Popular Searches" drop-down menu, which offers more than 10 choices. The results of a video search can be sorted in date order or by title of the video. |
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| AAFP, American Academy of Family Physicians; AAP, American Academy of Pediatrics; ACIP, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices; AMA, American Medical Association; CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; IAC, Immunization Action Coalition; MMWR, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report; NCIRD, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; NIVS, National Influenza Vaccine Summit; VIS, Vaccine Information Statement; VPD, vaccine-preventable disease; WHO, World Health Organization. |
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