Issue 1,556: March 17, 2021
Top Stories


Featured Resources


Journal Articles and Newsletters


Education and Training


Conferences and Meetings


From the Archives

 


Top Stories


President Biden calls on states, tribes, and territories to have all adults be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination by May 1

On March 11, President Biden addressed the nation and announced the next phase of the national COVID-19 vaccination effort. In the coming weeks, the Administration will:

  • Make every adult in the U.S. eligible for vaccination no later than May 1, along with increasing the number of places to get vaccinated
  • Provide tools to make it easier for individuals to find a vaccination appointment
  • Continue efforts to combat variants and spread of COVID-19

"After this long hard year, that will make this Independence Day something truly special, where we not only mark our independence as a nation but begin to mark our independence from this virus," President Biden said.

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The Ad Council and COVID Collaborative announce new PSAs featuring former U.S. Presidents and First Ladies as part of their COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative’s “It’s Up to You” campaign

The Ad Council and COVID Collaborative announced new video PSAs as part of their COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative's It's Up to You campaign, featuring former Presidents and former First Ladies Carter, Obama, Bush, and Clinton. The videos encourage Americans to get answers to the top questions about the COVID-19 vaccines at GetVaccineAnswers.org and to get vaccinated soon. View the videos: 



Please share these videos. 

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Order IAC’s laminated versions of CDC’s 2021 child/teen and adult immunization schedules for your exam rooms today—discounts for quantity purchases!

IAC's laminated versions of the 2021 U.S. child/adolescent immunization schedule and the 2021 U.S. adult immunization schedule are available for order.
 
These schedules are ideal for use in any busy healthcare setting where vaccinations are given. Their tough coating can be wiped down, and they’re durable enough to stand up to a year's worth of use.
 
The child/adolescent schedule is eight pages (i.e., four double-sided pages) and the adult schedule is six pages (i.e., three double-sided pages), but both schedules fold down to a convenient 8.5" x 11" size.

  

With color coding for easy reading, our laminated schedules replicate the original CDC formatting, including the essential tables and notes.

PRICING
1–4 copies: $7.50 each
5–19 copies: $5.50 each
20–99 copies: $4.50 each
100–499 copies: $4.00 each
500–999 copies: $3.50 each

For quotes on customizing or placing orders of 1,000 copies or more, call 651-647-9009 or email admininfo@immunize.org.

Visit the Shop IAC: Laminated Schedules web page for more information on the schedules, to view images of all the pages, and to download the order form today!

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CDC’s v-safe smartphone-based tool to monitor COVID-19 vaccine safety is now available in Korean, simplified Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese

COVID-19 vaccine safety continues to be a top priority at CDC so several systems have been developed to monitor this including v-safe, a new, smartphone-based tool

V-safe uses text messaging and web surveys to provide personalized health check-ins after COVID-19 vaccination. Participants report health conditions after COVID-19 vaccination to CDC in almost real-time. V-safe also gives participants a second dose reminder, if needed. 

V-safe is now available in five languages:

  • English 
  • Korean 
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Spanish 
  • Vietnamese 



V-safe participants will receive text messages and web surveys in the language chosen at sign-up. 

To register, go to vsafe.cdc.gov, scroll to the bottom of the page, and select your language of choice.

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HHS will invest $250 million to explain COVID-19 vaccine safety among underserved urban and rural communities

As part of the National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness, on March 8 the Administration announced it will invest $250 million to explain safety issues and encourage COVID-19 vaccination among underserved urban and rural populations. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) will offer the funding as health literacy grants to localities, which will partner with community-based organizations to reach racial and ethnic minority, rural, and other vulnerable populations. HHS expects to fund 30 projects in urban communities and 43 projects in rural communities for 2 years. 

Cities, counties, parishes, or other similar subdivisions may apply for the funding through April 20, 2021.

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CHOP’s Vaccine Education Center posts videos featuring CHOP personnel speaking on the importance of COVID-19 vaccination for the Black community

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's (CHOP) Vaccine Education Center (VEC) posted short videos featuring CHOP personnel describing the importance of COVID-19 vaccines for the Black community. The videos feature individuals sharing their own COVID-19 vaccine experience and decision-making.



Share these videos with your friends, colleagues, and across social media!

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IAC Spotlight! IAC’s Calendar of Events provides information about federal, state, and national partners’ immunization conferences, as well as professional societies’ annual meetings

IAC maintains a Calendar of Events on its website for healthcare professionals at www.immunize.org/calendar. This is an easy way to find out about upcoming regional, state, and national conferences, workshops, and electronic continuing educational opportunities. The calendar also includes special weeks of observances.



If you have an immunization-related event that you would like your colleagues to know about via this Calendar of Events, email IAC.

You can locate IAC's "Calendar of Events" web page in the “Guide to immunize.org” index at the bottom of every immunize.org web page.

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IAC experts called on by news media

With vaccines in the news so much lately, journalists have sought out IAC experts to communicate the intricacies of running a quality vaccination program. Our insights have helped explain vaccines to the public and policy makers. We want to help them understand the complex work vaccinators do. We've reached mass markets and local stations, across the U.S. and overseas, via print, radio, television, blogs, and more. Here is a selection of our recent citations:

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Not-to-miss immunization articles in the news
 

These recent articles convey the potential risks of vaccine-preventable diseases and the importance of vaccination.

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Featured Resources


Round up: IAC offers a collection of its new COVID-19 vaccine resources for healthcare personnel
 

IAC has developed many new resources to help healthcare personnel stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccination information including:

Check back periodically as IAC's COVID-19 vaccine resources expand. 

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In IAC’s “Video of the Week,” Dr. Paul Offit discusses the important role of the second dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

In this Video of the Week, Dr. Paul Offit, of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's (CHOP) Vaccine Education Center (VEC), notes that the mRNA vaccines are two-dose vaccines. He emphasizes the importance of the second dose to longer-lasting immunity.

 

Visit the whole collection at the VOTW archive.

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Public Health Communications Collaborative offers downloadable graphics and social media messages to promote factual information about COVID-19 vaccines in English and Spanish

Public Health Communications Collaborative offers downloadable graphics as well as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn social media messages to promote factual information about COVID-19 vaccines. There are three sets:

  • "Making the Decision to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine" explains why it's important to be vaccinated and focuses on safety
  • "Now What?" explains what people should do after getting vaccinated
  • "About the Three COVID-19 Vaccines" explains the differences between the three authorized vaccines



These graphics and social media messages are available in both English and Spanish. 

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IAC’s “History through Film” web page features public television documentary about 30 years of IAC titled Protecting Health: Saving Lives. Please share.

The award-winning public television documentary series, Visionaries, hosted by Sam Waterston, features IAC in the episode, Protecting Health: Saving Lives. This 30-minute film showcases IAC’s founder and executive director Dr. Deborah Wexler’s commitment to supporting the nation’s healthcare professionals with immunization education information and materials. Protecting Health: Saving Lives makes a powerful case for vaccination, addressing and defusing the fears that fuel the antivaccine movement, presenting stories of vaccine-preventable disease, and recognizing the science that has saved millions of lives through vaccination.

Protecting Health: Saving Lives is premiering on more than 100 local PBS stations nationwide in the months ahead, but you can watch it right now on IAC’s website at www.immunize.org/aboutus/iac-film-history.asp. We’d very much appreciate your circulating the film by sharing this link with your colleagues and friends through member newsletters, e-mail listservs, social media channels, conferences and web-based events, and web pages.



Sharing Protecting Health: Saving Lives is easy! Just go to https://www.immunize.org/film or click on the film's image in the right column of IAC's immunize.org main page. Click the “share” button and choose the social media site where you’d like your friends, family, and colleagues to view the film.
 
To learn more about the PBS Visionaries series, visit www.visionaries.org.

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U.S. Pharmacopeia updates COVID-19 Vaccine Handling Toolkit; now includes third vaccine and offers documents to optimize COVID-19 vaccine handling

The U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) is an independent, scientific nonprofit organization focused on building trust in the supply of safe, quality medicines. Their COVID-19 Vaccine Handling Toolkit was developed by more than 30 independent expert volunteers led by USP’s Healthcare Safety and Quality Expert Committee with representation from several other expert committees including U.S. government representatives from CDC and FDA. On March 12 they released an updated Toolkit version that includes:
  • Preparation, storage, and transportation considerations including beyond-use date information for the newly authorized Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine (Johnson & Johnson)
  • Updated transportation and storage information for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine
  • Ancillary supply re-distribution considerations, when applicable



Additionally, USP has published documents that can be shared in healthcare settings to help optimize staff efforts while handling COVID-19:

IAC Express normally references only CDC’s Storage and Handling Toolkit for vaccine storage and handling guidance; however, USP has developed specific tools and resources for the handling of COVID-19 vaccines to complement CDC’s resources that our readers may find useful.

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Journal Articles and Newsletters


“National Decision-Making for the Introduction of New Vaccines: A Systematic Review, 2010–2020” published by Vaccine

In the March 6 issue, Vaccine published National Decision-Making for the Introduction of New Vaccines: A Systematic Review, 2010–2020. The conclusions section appears below. 

The literature on vaccine adoption decision-making has expanded since 2010. We found that policymakers and expert advisory committee members (e.g., National Immunization Technical Advisory Group [NITAG]) increasingly value the interventions based on economic evaluations. The results of this review could guide discussions on evidence-informed immunization decision-making among country, sub-regional, and regional stakeholders.

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Education and Training


CDC offers on-demand, self-paced training module for healthcare providers administering Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine (Johnson & Johnson); CE available

CDC has created a new on-demand, self-paced training module Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine (Johnson & Johnson): What Healthcare Professionals Need to Know for healthcare professionals who will be administering the Janssen vaccine. This module will provide information on storage, handling, preparation, administration, and documentation of this product. Continuing education credit is available for this module.

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Public Health Communications Collaborative hosts a conversation with CDC director Dr. Walensky about COVID-19 communications and CDC’s public health partnerships on March 30

Public Health Communications Collaborative will host a conversation with CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on March 30 from 1:00–1:30 p.m. (ET). This conversation will feature COVID-19 communications and public health partnerships.

As part of the conversation, Dr. Walensky will respond to questions from the audience. After you register, submit questions along with your name and affiliation to info@publichealthcollaborative.org.
 
Register for the conversation.

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CommuniVax Coalition offers webinar titled "Equity in Vaccination: A Plan to Work with Communities of Color toward COVID-19 Recovery and Beyond" on March 18

CommuniVax Coalition and Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security will offer a webinar, Equity in Vaccination: A Plan to Work with Communities of Color toward COVID-19 Recovery and Beyond, on March 18 at 2:00 p.m. (ET).

The webinar builds on the recent report, Equity in Vaccination: A Plan to Work with Communities of Color toward COVID-19 Recovery and Beyond. That report offered a framework, a checklist, and vaccine communication best practices for local and state officials to implement, supporting a vaccination campaign that works to remedy COVID-19 impacts in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities and create lasting benefits for these BIPOC communities. This webinar will share experiences from local initiatives, applicable to towns, cities, and states across the country.

Registration information

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Watch the AMA COVID-19 Update “Logistical Pluses of Janssen Vaccine and a Look at Vaccine for Kids” featuring IAC’s Dr. L.J Tan

Watch the March 8 episode of the American Medical Association's (AMA) daily AMA COVID-19 Update titled Logistical Pluses of Janssen Vaccine and a Look at Vaccine for Kids with insights from AMA leaders and experts, including IAC's L.J Tan. In this episode of AMA COVID-19 Update, the health experts emphasize that, with the addition of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine (Johnson & Johnson), we have the benefit of three safe and highly effective vaccines against the COVID-19 virus. Experts also discuss pediatric COVID-19 vaccine trials, and how soon we can expect an authorized vaccine for children. 

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Conferences and Meetings

NFID 2021 Annual Conference on Vaccinology Research to be held virtually on April 26–27, with Women Leaders in Vaccination session on April 26; registration open and schedule available

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) 2021 Annual Conference on Vaccinology Research is to be held virtually April 26–27. The conference provides an opportunity to join with healthcare professionals, government officials, researchers, scientists, and other representatives from the many disciplines involved in vaccinology to learn about the latest advances in the field.

The submission deadline for poster abstracts has been extended to April 5 at 11:59 p.m. (ET). Learn more about submitting an online poster abstract.

To honor the contributions of women during Women's History Month, NFID will host the 3rd Annual Women Leaders in Vaccinology session on April 26 from 4:45–5:45 p.m. (ET). The session will feature a panel discussion of women working in various professional settings discussing their career paths, successes, and lessons learned while addressing obstacles faced throughout their careers.

Visit the 2021 Annual Conference of Vaccinology Research website to access the agenda, schedule, list of speakers, and registration link. There is a registration fee to attend.

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From the Archives


In this somber 1997 PSA from Hawaii Department of Health, we are reminded that teens don’t have to engage in risky behaviors to die from hepatitis B

In this 1997 public service announcement (PSA) from Hawaii Department of Health, we are given a gloomy graveyard reminder that teens don't need to be engaging in risky behaviors to die from hepatitis B. This PSA is part of a collection curated by vaccine expert William L. Atkinson, MD, MPH.



Previous PSAs featured in “From the Archives” are available when viewing this Vimeo video

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About IAC Express
The Immunization Action Coalition welcomes redistribution of this issue of IAC Express or selected articles. When you do so, please add a note that the Immunization Action Coalition is the source of the material and provide a link to this issue.

IAC Express is supported in part by Grant No. 6NH23IP922550 from the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CDC. Its contents are solely the responsibility of IAC and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.

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Editorial Information

  • Editor-in-Chief
    Kelly L. Moore, MD, MPH
  • Managing Editor
    John D. Grabenstein, RPh, PhD
  • Associate Editor
    Sharon G. Humiston, MD, MPH
  • Writer/Publication Coordinator
    Taryn Chapman, MS
    Courtnay Londo, MA
  • Style and Copy Editor
    Marian Deegan, JD
  • Web Edition Managers
    Arkady Shakhnovich
    Jermaine Royes
  • Contributing Writer
    Laurel H. Wood, MPA
  • Technical Reviewer
    Kayla Ohlde

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