Issue 1216: November 25, 2015
Ask the Experts—Question of the Week: It has just come to my attention that the plumbers working for our plumbing contractor…read more
TOP STORIES
IAC HANDOUTS
VACCINE INFORMATION STATEMENTS
WORLD NEWS
FEATURED RESOURCES
NOMINATIONS AND AWARDS
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
TOP STORIES
Reminder: November issues of Needle Tips and Vaccinate Adults are available online
The November issues of Needle Tips and Vaccinate Adults are now available online. Vaccinate Adults is an abbreviated version of Needle Tips with the pediatric content removed. Both publications focus on meningococcal vaccine recommendations for MenB and MenACWY, including many new related "Ask the Experts" Q&As from CDC medical officer Andrew T. Kroger, MD, MPH, and nurse educator Donna L. Weaver, RN, MN.
Click on the images below to download the November issues (PDF) of Needle Tips and/or Vaccinate Adults.
Needle Tips: View the table of contents, Ask the Experts section, magazine viewer, and back issues.
Vaccinate Adults: View the table of contents, Ask the Experts section, magazine viewer, and back issues.
If you would like to receive immediate email notification whenever new issues of Needle Tips or Vaccinate Adults are released, visit IAC's subscribe page to sign up.
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Reminder: National Influenza Vaccination Week is scheduled for December 6–12
Don't forget that National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW) will be held December 6–12. This event highlights the importance of continuing influenza vaccination throughout the season. CDC is featuring useful related resources on its NIVW web section, including fact sheets, a media toolkit, customizable posters and flyers, matte articles for print news stories, web buttons and banners, and much more.
The NIVW web section site will be updated as December approaches, so check back frequently.
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IAC Spotlight! Easy-to-read vaccine fact sheets are available for patients and parents
IAC has developed a series of easy-to-read one-page fact sheets about all vaccines routinely given to adults and children. Each includes basic information about the vaccine-preventable disease and the related vaccination recommendations.
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Reminder: Call-to-action letter from national organizations emphasizes the importance of second dose of MCV4 vaccine
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American College Health Association (ACHA), Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) have issued a joint “Dear Colleague” letter, urging health care professionals to strongly recommend and administer the second (booster) dose of meningococcal ACWY vaccine (MenACWY or MCV4) at age 16.
According to CDC, the meningococcal meningitis booster vaccination rate is an estimated 28.5% for eligible teens, compared to 79.3% for the primary dose. Despite CDC recommendations for a booster dose at age 16, after an initial vaccination at age 11 or 12, fewer than 30% of 17-year-olds have received the second vaccination needed to enhance protection against meningococcal meningitis caused by serogroups A, C, W, and Y. The “Dear Colleague” letter supports a national call-to-action for health care professionals to improve this alarming statistic.
CDC strongly recommends a booster dose at age 16 because protection wanes in most teens within five years after the primary vaccination. By vaccinating fewer than 1 in 3 eligible teens, we are leaving millions of young adults without the protection they need against potentially deadly and crippling meningococcal disease. Meningococcal meningitis has a 10–15% fatality rate and cases have occurred in which an otherwise healthy young person contracts the illness, becomes severely sick, and dies in as few as 24 hours after the first symptoms appear.
The “Dear Colleague” letter includes a statement from Anne Schuchat, MD, principal deputy director of CDC, who notes, “A clinician’s endorsement of immunization has long been recognized as a key factor in improving immunization rates.”
To help health care professionals in their efforts to recommend meningococcal meningitis vaccine and improve immunization rates, IAC has developed several resources that are available on its website at www.immunize.org/meningococcal. In addition, health care professionals can visit www.Give2MCV4.org to download free educational materials and tools, including fact sheets, talking points, an overview of adolescent immunization recommendations, Q&As, and other useful resources.
The joint “Dear Colleague” letter serves as a rallying cry for all health care providers to assure your adolescent patients are adequately protected. Remember—You’re not done if you give just one! Give 2 doses to strengthen protection.
Related Links
“Dear Colleague” letter
Meningococcal resources from Give2MCV4 project
Meningococcal Resources from IAC
Meningococcal Resources from CDC
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Invite your friends to join Voices for Vaccines!
Voices for Vaccines (VFV) reminds everyone who cares about the life-saving power of vaccines to join VFV and encourage their friends to do so too! Voices for Vaccines is a national organization of parents and others who are dedicated to raising the level of the voices of everyone who supports immunization. VFV has developed resources for those looking to make a difference in countering anti-vaccine forces.
- Parents who want to make sure their children's day cares and schools are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases should bring the Community Immunity Toolkit to their school nurses and principals
- People who want information about what the law can do about immunization rates should download the Vaccines and the Law manual
- The Parent Advocate Toolkit enables anyone—from the everyday parent to the practicing physician—to gather a group of people of any size to discuss how vaccines are important and why we must all speak up for them
- Writing an Op-Ed for Publication provides guidance for those who wish to write op-eds for local newspapers or magazines about the importance of immunization or any other issue under the umbrella of vaccine hesitancy
Please spread the word to your friends and colleagues to join VFV!
Related Links
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IAC HANDOUTS
IAC updates "Pneumococcal Vaccination Recommendations for Children and Adults by Age and/or Risk Factor" and "Pneumococcal Vaccines: CDC Answers Your Questions"
IAC recently revised two handouts related to pneumococcal vaccination to take into account the updated ACIP recommendation regarding the interval between PCV13 followed by PPSV23 from 6–12 months to ≥1 year for immunocompetent adults aged ≥65 years.
- Pneumococcal Vaccination Recommendations for Children and Adults by Age and/or Risk Factor
- Pneumococcal Vaccines: CDC Answers Your Questions
IAC's Handouts for Patients & Staff web section offers health care 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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IAC updates its standing orders templates for pneumococcal and zoster vaccination of adults
IAC recently updated its standing orders templates for administering pneumococcal and zoster vaccines to adults.
- IAC revised the tables on pages 2 and 3 in Standing Orders for Administering Pneumococcal Vaccines (PCV13 and PPSV23) to Adults.
- IAC added a precaution to vaccination that had been inadvertently omitted from Standing Orders for Administering Zoster Vaccine to Adults.
Related Links
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IAC updates its staff education materials: "Current Dates of Vaccine Information Statements" and "It's Federal Law! You must give your patients current Vaccine Information Statements"
IAC recently revised Current Dates of Vaccine Information Statements as well as It's Federal Law! You must give your patients current Vaccine Information Statements to reflect the 11/5/2015 date of the recently updated Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV13) and pediatric multi-vaccine VISs.
Related Links
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IAC posts updated Batman and Robin poster that promotes its two main websites: immunize.org and vaccineinformation.org
IAC has posted an updated version of a poster featuring Batman and Robin artwork that appeared as the Immunization Action Coalition's logo 20 years ago. The poster promotes IAC's website for health care professionals, www.immunize.org, as well as www.vaccineinformation.org, IAC's website for patients, parents, and members of the public. Immunization providers can hang this colorful poster in their exam or waiting rooms to highlight these online sources of reliable immunization information.
Access IAC's superheroes poster.
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VACCINE INFORMATION STATEMENTS
IAC posts Arabic translations of the 2015–16 influenza VISs
IAC recently posted Arabic translations of the VISs for the 2015–16 inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) and 2015–16 live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV). IAC thanks Shoo the Flu, Oakland, CA, for the translations.
Related Links
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WORLD NEWS
CDC and WHO report on progress toward polio eradication in Pakistan in this week's MMWR and Weekly Epidemiological Report, respectively
CDC published Progress Toward Poliomyelitis Eradication—Pakistan, January 2014–September 2015 in the November 20 issue of MMWR (pages 1271–1275). On the same day, WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Record published a similar article titled Progress towards poliomyelitis eradication: Pakistan, January 2014–September 2015. A media summary of the MMWR article is reprinted below.
Pakistan is one of two countries (the other is Afghanistan) with uninterrupted WPV [wild poliovirus] circulation. Pakistan has made significant improvements to its polio eradication program during 2015 and as a result the number of polio cases reported during 2015 has decreased significantly compared to those reported during 2014. Despite the decreased number of cases, the geographic spread of cases is cause for concern as this indicates that immunization campaigns continue to miss children. To eradicate polio and prevent outbreaks, all children must be vaccinated. Continued vigilance and improved efforts to reach and vaccinate all children are needed if the goal of stopping transmission is to be achieved during 2016.
Related Links
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ACOG provides resources on its Immunization for Women website, including influenza season updates
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Immunization for Women website is a place for health care professionals and their female patients to find up-to-date information about immunizations and vaccine-preventable diseases, including:
ACOG is providing pertinent influenza season updates and relevant resources in the 2015–2016 Influenza Season section of the website.
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Influenza is serious; many resources are available to help health care professionals in vaccinating
Vaccination remains the single most effective means of preventing influenza, and is recommended for everyone age six months and older. If you don't provide influenza vaccination in your clinic, please recommend vaccination to your patients and refer them to a clinic or pharmacy that provides vaccines or to the HealthMap Vaccine Finder to locate sites near their workplaces or homes that offer influenza vaccination services.
Following is a list of resources related to influenza disease and vaccination for health care professionals and the public:
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IAC makes available The Vaccine Handbook: A Practical Guide for Clinicians, a.k.a. "The Purple Book," by Dr. Gary Marshall
The Vaccine Handbook: A Practical Guide for Clinicians (“The Purple Book,” 2015, 560 pages) is a uniquely comprehensive source of practical, up-to-date information for vaccine providers and educators. Its author, Gary S. Marshall, MD, has drawn together the latest vaccine science and guidance into a concise, user-friendly, practical resource for the private office, public health clinic, academic medical center, and hospital.
IAC Executive Director Deborah Wexler, MD, is enthusiastic about helping get this book circulated as widely as possible. “During more than 20 years in the field of immunization education, I have not seen a book that is so brimming with state-of-the-science vaccine information,” she states. "This book belongs in the hands of every medical student, physician-in-training, doctor, nursing student, and nurse who provides vaccines to patients.”
The Vaccine Handbook provides:
- Information on every licensed vaccine in the United States
- Rationale behind authoritative vaccine recommendations
- Contingencies encountered in everyday practice
- A chapter dedicated to addressing vaccine concerns
- Background on how vaccine policy is made
- Standards and regulations
- Office logistics, including billing procedures, and much more
About the Author
Gary Marshall, MD, is professor of pediatrics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky, where he serves as chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases and director of the Pediatric Clinical Trials Unit. In addition to being a busy clinician, he is nationally known for his work in the areas of vaccine research, advocacy, and education.
The newly released fifth edition of this invaluable guide is now available on IAC’s website at www.immunize.org/vaccine-handbook.
The price of the handbook is $29.95 each, plus shipping charges. Discount pricing is available for more than 10 copies. Order copies for your staff or for distribution at an upcoming conference.
Quantity Discount Pricing
- 1–10 books: no discount + shipping
- 11–50 books: 5% + shipping
- 51–100 books: 10% + shipping
- 101–500 books: 15% + shipping
- 501–1000 books: 20% + shipping
For quotes on larger quantities, email admininfo@immunize.org.
Order your copy today!
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Nomination period open for the Association of Immunization Manager's Bull’s-Eye Award
The Association of Immunization Managers (AIM) presents a Bull's-Eye Award for Innovation and Excellence in Immunization to three state, territorial, or urban area immunization programs annually in recognition of an outstanding immunization initiative. The award recognizes immunization strategies that "hit their mark," achieving goals and increasing awareness by encouraging replication in other programs. The nomination period is November 16—December 11.
Access the AIM Bull's-Eye Award nomination submission form and additional information.
NFID to offer two webinars on influenza vaccination in December
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) will be offering two webinars related to influenza vaccination in December.
Becoming FLUent: Communicating Prevention Messages
December 4, 12:00 p.m. (ET)
The NFID Childhood Influenza Immunization Coalition (CIIC) will host an online panel discussion about the role and responsibilities of health care professionals in communicating the importance of influenza prevention to parents and families.
The panel will be moderated by Carol J. Baker, MD, NFID past-president, Childhood Influenza Immunization Coalition Chair, and professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. Panelists will include Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE, author of Seattle Mama Doc Blog and executive director of Digital Health at Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Patricia (Patsy) A. Stinchfield, MS, CPNP, CIC, director of Infection Prevention & Control at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.
Panelists will discuss their experiences and best practices for communicating flu prevention messaging through social media and community outreach.
Access registration information.
Influenza Vaccines: Giving the Right Dose at the Right Time
December 9, 12:00 p.m. (ET)
Kathleen M. Neuzil, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will discuss influenza vaccines. The presentation will focus on the characteristics of currently available influenza vaccines, current recommendations for administering the vaccines, and strategies to improve immunization coverage.
At the conclusion of the webinar, participants will be able to:
- Evaluate the characteristics of influenza vaccines and the appropriateness of each for different populations
- Develop strategies to increase immunization coverage in clinical practice
- Provide patient education on the prevention and control of influenza
Access registration information.
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