Issue 1,603: December 1, 2021
Top Stories
Vaccine Information Statements Featured Resources Notable Publications Upcoming Events
Top Stories
IAC’s popular “Ask the Experts: COVID-19” web page fully updated with answers to questions about latest CDC recommendations for booster doses and vaccination of young children

On November 24, IAC again fully updated its Ask the Experts: COVID-19 web page to reflect the latest decisions of the ACIP and changes to CDC’s clinical considerations for the use of COVID-19 vaccines. “Ask the Experts” now includes these topics:

  • Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine (age 5 through 11 years, “orange cap”)
  • COVID-19 vaccination of children age 5 through 11 years
  • Current booster dose recommendations for all adults age 18 and older
  • CDC Emergency Use Instructions (EUI) for certain recipients of vaccines not authorized by FDA
The Ask the Experts: COVID-19 web page is updated regularly as guidance changes and new vaccines are authorized.



IAC's Ask the Experts gateway page leads you to 29 distinct web pages on a variety of topics comprising a total of more than 1,000 common or challenging questions and answers (Q&As) about vaccines and their administration. IAC wishes to recognize its team of experts: Kelly L. Moore, MD, MPH and Carolyn Bridges, MD, FACP.

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National Influenza Vaccination Week is December 5–11. Register now for IAC’s December 9 Influenza Vaccination Webinar and promote flu vaccination with influenza resources from CDC and IAC.

As part of National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW), Immunize.org (IAC) will hold an interactive webinar addressing flu vaccination in December and beyond on Thursday, December 9, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. (ET).

The objectives of the webinar are to:

  • Discuss CDC’s new influenza surveillance tool, the Weekly National Influenza (Flu) Vaccination Dashboard and review this season’s vaccination coverage to date
  • Describe the science of the safety and effectiveness of co-administering vaccines, featuring basic immunology you should understand to answer recipients’ questions confidently
  • Detail practical techniques for administering multiple shots to an adult, including how to deliver two vaccines in one deltoid, which vaccines should be given in separate limbs if possible, and use of the anterolateral thigh as an injection site

Webinar speakers will include:

  • JoEllen Wolicki, BSN, RN, nurse educator, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), CDC
  • Suchita Patel, DO, MPH, medical officer, NCIRD, CDC
  • Jason Goldman, MD, FACP, regent, American College of Physicians (ACP); ACP liaison to Advisory Community on Immunization Practices (ACIP)

Registration is open now! This webinar is hosted by IAC with support from Sanofi Pasteur. 

National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW), observed December 5–11 this year, was established by CDC in 2005 to highlight the importance of continuing influenza vaccination activities throughout the holiday season and beyond. It's a great time to send reminder messages and vaccinate all those not yet protected for the coming viral season. Vaccination efforts should continue into the spring because influenza activity often does not peak until February.



Visit the NIVW website to access the 2021 NIVW Digital Media Toolkit and other resources to promote flu vaccination.

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Influenza activity is increasing; CDC urges vaccination now

Influenza Surveillance

On November 15, CDC announced that Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report, FluView, showed increasing flu activity, consistent with typical influenza seasonal activity. More than 90% of cases have been found in young adults and children, who are key to community spread of flu virus. Anyone who has not received flu vaccine this season should get vaccinated now.
 


Influenza Vaccination Dashboard
 
CDC's new Weekly Flu Vaccination Dashboard shares preliminary vaccination data, including key facts, such as:
  • 70.6% of adults who are vaccinated or definitely plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine have received or intend to receive a flu vaccine for the 2021–22 season
  • 10.9% of adults who probably or definitely will NOT get COVID-19 vaccine have received or intend to receive a flu vaccine for the 2021–22 season
CDC recommends everyone age 6 months and older get an annual flu vaccine. Influenza and COVID-19 vaccines may be given at the same visit, if needed. COVID-19 vaccination alone provides no protection from influenza or any other respiratory virus. 

Vaccine Finder

If you don’t provide influenza vaccine at your site, please strongly recommend vaccination and refer people to sites that do vaccinate. Boston Children’s Hospital, in partnership with CDC, has developed VaccineFinder, a user-friendly website to help people of all ages find influenza, COVID-19, and other vaccines. Participating providers can now update their vaccine inventory estimates on VaccineFinder. For questions or more information, contact vaccine@healthmap.org.

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Five minutes? We need you! Help us improve your Immunize.org experience.

Your feedback will help us improve your experience on the Immunize.org website. Please take 5 minutes to complete this Immunize.org website user experience survey to help us shape the next generation of our website. 
 
Launched in 1994, Immunize.org is the premier non-profit web-based resource for practical, user-friendly immunization information available today, serving about 35,000 visitors per day. The website houses IAC's collection of more than 250 healthcare professional immunization education materials and patient handouts. These materials are available free of charge, and users are encouraged to download them, make copies, and distribute them widely. This website also makes available all U.S. Vaccine Information Statements with translations available in 46 languages. Each year users download more than 8 million print-ready documents from Immunize.org. 

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IAC Spotlight: Review of Immunize.org resources focused on childhood vaccination

In this week's IAC Spotlight, we illuminate three Immunize.org resources designed to help parents and clinicians who care for children.
 
Our CDC Schedules main page provides print PDFs of the recommended immunization schedules, including the 8-page schedule for children and adolescents

Our Handouts: Schedules for Patients main page contains vaccine schedule information for different age groups and for people with underlying medical conditions. We include, for example, a simple table on Immunizations for Babies, an alphabetical list of Vaccinations for Infants and Children, Age 0–10 Years, and a table by age of When Do Children and Teens Need Vaccinations?
 
Our Handouts: Parents main page leads to handouts explaining individual vaccines or addressing frequently asked questions (e.g., Evidence shows vaccines unrelated to autism; Personal belief exemptions for vaccination put people at risk; Questions parents ask about vaccinations for babies).

Bookmark your favorites, share them in your office, and link to them on your website.

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Journalists interview IAC experts
 
Journalists seek out IAC experts to help explain vaccines to the public and policy makers. We help the media understand and communicate the complex work vaccinators do. Here is a selection of our recent citations. Related Link

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Vaccines in the news

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


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Vaccine Information Statements
Recap: IAC posts new translations in Burmese, Russian, Somali, and Vietnamese of Vaccine Information Statements (VISs) released by CDC on October 15, 2021

On October 15th, CDC released updated final versions of the Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Multi-vaccine Pediatric, and Rotavirus VISs. These have been translated into four additional languages: Burmese, Russian, Somali, and Vietnamese. All translations are available in PDF.

VIS translations in Burmese:

VIS translations in Russian:

VIS translations in Somali:

VIS translations in Vietnamese:

Translations of previous VIS versions may be used until new translations become available. CDC states that the corresponding up-to-date English-language VIS must also be supplied when providing an out-of-date translation.

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Featured Resources

Going fast! IAC offers FREE “I Got My COVID-19 Vaccine” buttons and stickers in English and Spanish.

Anyone promoting COVID-19 vaccination can order IAC’s FREE “I Got My COVID-19 Vaccine” buttons and stickers, provided with support from CDC. English and Spanish buttons and stickers are available with no charge for materials or shipping, while supplies last. Share them with patients, colleagues and friends to show confidence in COVID-19 vaccination. 

Click the picture below to go directly to the order form.

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Explore the updated www.Give2MenACWY.org website to increase coverage for the MenACWY booster and other adolescent vaccinations

IAC’s www.Give2MenACWY.org website promotes the importance of adolescent vaccination, including administering the recommended booster dose of MenACWY vaccine at age 16. Many teens are behind on vaccines because of the pandemic, so adolescent vaccination is more important than ever.

Original materials on this colorful website for healthcare professionals have been updated to incorporate the 2020 ACIP meningococcal vaccine recommendations and the most recent vaccine coverage statistics from CDC’s National Immunization Survey–Teen (NIS–Teen). One particularly popular resource on the site is the updated Algorithm for MenACWY Immunization in Adolescents 11–18 Years of Age.

 

The website’s navigation structure makes locating information a breeze; it is divided into five easy-to-access sections:

The site also categorizes materials according to whether they are primarily of interest to providers, to adolescents, or to parents.

Visit Give2MenACWY.org and enjoy browsing (and deploying) its bountiful resources.

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Notable Publications
“Association of Discrimination and Health Care Experiences with Incomplete Infant Vaccination during COVID-19” published in JAMA Pediatrics 

In the November 22 issue, JAMA Pediatrics published Association of Discrimination and Health Care Experiences with Incomplete Infant Vaccination during COVID-19. Abstract excerpts appear below. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the lives of pregnant individuals and their infants, resulting in prenatal health care disruptions, reduced duration of postpartum hospitalization, a sharp decrease in infant vaccination rates, and other stressful situations…We prospectively investigated how maternal experiences predicted vaccination status among infants born during the COVID-19 pandemic…

RESULTS
…key predictors [of incomplete vaccine uptake at age 3 to 5 months]… included perinatal care limitations (telehealth prenatal care and brief postpartum hospitalization), COVID-19–related income loss, and experiencing discrimination owing to one’s race, gender, sexuality, or body size. Mothers with greater concern about perinatal infection and greater birth satisfaction had decreased risk of incomplete vaccine uptake…

DISCUSSION
…Since vaccination status in early infancy is overwhelmingly predictive of future up-to-date vaccination status, strategies to address perinatal care limitations and discrimination merit serious consideration.

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CHOP's Vaccine Education Center publishes November issue of Vaccine Update for Providers newsletter

The Vaccine Education Center (VEC) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) publishes a monthly immunization-focused newsletter title Vaccine Update for Providers. The November issue includes the following articles:

Additional resources, including information booklets for patients, are available in the full newsletter.

Access the sign-up form to subscribe to Vaccine Update for Providers.

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Upcoming Events
IAC webinar December 9 at 1:00 p.m. (ET): “Fight the Flu and COVID-19 Too: Influenza Vaccination in December and beyond and Practical Approaches to Coadministration of Vaccines in Adults”

In recognition of National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW), Immunize.org (IAC) will hold an interactive webinar titled Fight the Flu and COVID-19 Too: Influenza Vaccination in December and beyond and Practical Approaches to Coadministration of Vaccines in Adults on Thursday, December 9, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. (ET). Speakers include JoEllen Wolicki, BSN, RN, and Suchita Patel, DO, MPH, from CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and Dr. Jason Goldman, ACIP liaison representative of the American College of Physicians.

Register today


For more upcoming events, visit our Calendar of Events.
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. 1NH23IP922654 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.

IAC Express Disclaimer
ISSN: 1526-1786

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About IZ Express

IZ Express is supported in part by Grant No. 1NH23IP922654 from CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Its contents are solely the responsibility of Immunize.org and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.

IZ Express Disclaimer
ISSN 2771-8085

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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