The February 2010 issues of Needle Tips and Vaccinate Adults are now available online for viewing, downloading, and printing. Both issues focus on the newly published 2010 U.S. immunization schedules and on recently released provisional ACIP recommendations. The content of Vaccinate Adults is similar to that of Needle Tips, except the pediatric content has been removed from Vaccinate Adults.

Complete information about the February 2010 issue of Needle Tips is available at http://www.immunize.org/nt There you will find a link for displaying and printing the entire 16-page PDF of this issue, along with a table of contents for viewing and printing individual sections of Needle Tips.

Complete information about the February 2010 issue of Vaccinate Adults is available at http://www.immunize.org/va

If you would like to download the entire issue of Needle Tips right now, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/nslt.d/n43/n43.pdf

If you would like to download the entire issue of Vaccinate Adults right now, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/va/va26.pdf

On February 19, FDA approved Novartis's license application for Meningococcal (Groups A, C, Y, and W-135) Oligosaccharide Diphtheria CRM197 Conjugate Vaccine. Trade named Menveo, the vaccine is indicated for active immunization to prevent invasive meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroups A, C, Y and W-135. It is approved for use in people ages 11 through 55 years.

To read the approval letter, click here.

To read the package insert, click here.

IAC encourages qualifying healthcare organizations to apply for its Honor Roll for Patient Safety. Since January 25, when IAC Express last reported on the Honor Roll for Patient Safety, seven hospitals/medical systems and one medical practice have enrolled. The honor roll recognizes medical practices, hospitals, professional organizations, and government entities that have taken a stand for patient safety by strengthening mandatory influenza vaccination policies for healthcare workers.

The seven hospitals/medical systems that have joined since January 25 are Genesis HealthCare System, Zanesville, OH; Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach, CA; Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, Fountain Valley, CA; Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, CA; UC (University of California) Davis Health System, Sacramento, CA; UC Irvine Healthcare, Orange, CA; and St. Joseph Health System, Orange, CA. The medical practice is North Valley Family Physicians, Colusa, CA. The addition of these eight healthcare organizations brings the total number of enrolled institutions and medical practices to 47.

To be included in the honor roll, an organization's mandate must require influenza vaccination for employees and must include serious measures to prevent transmission of influenza from unvaccinated workers to patients. Such measures might include a mask requirement, reassignment to non-patient-care duties, or dismissal of the employee.

To find out specific information on the mandates of the enrolled organizations, go to: http://www.immunize.org/laws/influenzahcw.asp This web page also includes information about how to apply to be included on the honor roll.

When it comes to educating healthcare professionals and the public about the serious health effects of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), nothing else packs the punch of a graphic visual image. In creating its new Image Library, IAC brought together hundreds of photos of people suffering from VPDs, as well as images of pathology specimens and micrographs of viruses and bacteria. These images are organized by VPD, making them easy for healthcare professionals, the media, and others to access, download, and use in lectures, articles, and presentations.

To access the Image Library, go to: http://www.immunize.org/photos and click on a link to one of the 19 VPDs listed in the large box that dominates the page. Also included in the box, at the bottom of the far-right column, is a link titled Vaccination Images. Click on it to be taken to pictures of healthcare professionals vaccinating children, teens, and adults.

IAC's Image Library also features photos taken during various global immunization campaigns. These include photo galleries, slideshows, and historic pictures of campaigns past and present. You'll find the campaign images located directly under the large box of VPD images mentioned above. Or access them directly at http://www.immunize.org/photos/global-campaigns.asp

The new Image Library also incorporates material from image libraries created by other organizations, including the CDC's Public Health Image Library; the American Academy of Pediatrics' photo collection of children suffering from VPDs; and archival images from the History of Medicine Division of the U.S. Library of Medicine. You'll find material from these organizations located in the far right column of the Image Library home page.

For years, IAC has posted VPD photos on its website for the public--www.vaccineinformation.org Many of these are the same as ones posted on new Image Library. IAC is offering photos on both websites now to allow website users to find images on whichever IAC website they prefer to use.

IAC recently revised the parent brochure "Hepatitis B shots are recommended for all new babies" to place more emphasis on the importance of giving newborns the hepatitis B birth dose before they leave the hospital.

To access the revised ready-to-print (PDF) print piece "Hepatitis B shots are recommended for all new babies," go to:
http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4110.pdf

Several translations of the revised "Hepatitis B shots are recommended for all new babies" will be available in the weeks ahead. IAC Express will inform readers when they become available.

IAC's Print Materials web section offers healthcare professionals and the public approximately 250 FREE English-language materials (many also available in translation), which we encourage website users to print out, copy, and distribute widely. To access all of IAC's free print materials, go to: http://www.immunize.org/printmaterials

Please continue to vaccinate patients against seasonal and H1N1 influenza. Remember: 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine will not protect people against seasonal influenza, and seasonal influenza vaccine will not protect against H1N1 influenza.

Providers who don't have seasonal influenza vaccine or H1N1 influenza vaccine can direct patients to the new Google Flu Shot Finder at http://www.google.com/flushot

CDC advises healthcare professionals that during seasonal and H1N1 influenza outbreaks, all people who have existing indications for pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV) should be vaccinated according to current ACIP recommendations. This is important because people with existing indications are not only at increased risk for pneumococcal disease, but are also at increased risk for serious complications from influenza.

CDC has issued related guidance titled "Prevention of Pneumococcal Infections Secondary to Seasonal and 2009 H1N1 Influenza Viruses Infection." To access it, go to: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/provider/provider_pneumococcal.htm

IAC encourages IAC Express readers to watch "Be Aware! Meningitis is Sneaky!" a 17-minute video presented as a 3-part series on YouTube. Developed by MAK (Meningitis Awareness Key to prevention), the series covers the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of meningitis and shows the disease's possible long-term debilitating effects. Part 3 stresses the importance of vaccination against meningococcal disease.

The video will be available on the home page of IAC's website through February 28. To access it, go to: http://www.immunize.org and click on the image under the words Video of the Week. It may take a few moments for the video to begin playing; please be patient!

Remember to bookmark IAC's home page to view a new video every Monday. To view an IAC Video of the Week from the past, go to the video archive at http://www.immunize.org/votw

CDC recently announced the addition of an updated seasonal influenza module to NCIRD's web-based training course "Immunization: You Call the Shots." This module provides basic information on how influenza vaccines work and general recommendations for their use. Continuing Education (CE) credit is available for viewing the module and completing an evaluation.

To access the updated seasonal influenza module, go to:
http://www2a.cdc.gov/nip/isd/ycts/mod1/courses/flu/ce.asp

For additional information on "You Call the Shots," go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/ed/youcalltheshots.htm

In IAC's February 2010 issues of Needle Tips and Vaccinate Adults, we inadvertently omitted some important information about sanofi pasteur's January 29, 2010, recall of certain lots of its H1N1 influenza vaccine. We omitted the words "H1N1 influenza" in a paragraph that begins with "On Jan. 29." The paragraph is located in the left column of the Vaccine Highlights section of both publications.

Here is the corrected text:
On Jan. 29, CDC's Health Alert Network (HAN) issued a CDC Health Update announcing that sanofi pasteur had voluntarily recalled 5 lots of its single-dose pre-filled syringe pediatric (0.25 mL) H1N1 influenza vaccine and 1 lot of single-dose pre-filled syringe H1N1 influenza vaccine for older children and adults (0.5 mL). . . .

IAC regrets the error and any confusion it may have caused Needle Tips and Vaccinate Adults readers.

To access the corrected Vaccine Highlights section in Needle Tips, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/nslt.d/n43/vaccine_highlights.pdf

To access the corrected Vaccine Highlights section in Vaccinate Adults, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/va/va26vaccine_highlights.pdf

On Feb. 13, UNICEF issued a press release announcing that Bangladesh will vaccinate 20 million children against measles. The first paragraph of the press release is reprinted below.

To access the complete press release, go to:
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_52768.html

CDC published "Outbreak of 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) on a Peruvian Navy Ship--June-July 2009" in the February 19 issue of MMWR. A summary made available to the press is reprinted below in its entirety.

To access the full article in web-text (HTML) format, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5906a3.htm

PKIDS (Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases) invites colleagues to a one-hour webinar that will provide hands-on, how-to instruction about blogging. The webinar is part of Communications Made Easy, a PKIDS' program intended to help immunization educators learn the ropes of social marketing and traditional and social media.

The blogging webinar is scheduled for February 23, at 9:00 AM Pacific Time. Space is limited and pre-registration is recommended. To register, go to: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?udc=l59dt22bm3lw

For more information on the Communications Made Easy program, go to: http://www.pkids.org/cme

PKIDS supports people whose children have been affected by viral hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, and other chronic, viral infectious diseases, and educates the public about effective disease prevention practices. To visit the PKIDS website, go to: http://www.pkids.org

Regular registration is now open for the National Conference on Immunization and Health Coalitions (NCIHC), which will take place in Chicago on May 26-28. The event host is the Chicago Area Immunization Campaign.

NCIHC 2010 will showcase successful ways in which health coalitions can improve immunization protection, prevent disease, improve access to care and health outcomes for underserved populations, reduce racial, ethnic, and geographic health disparities, educate new populations, and build community health infrastructures.

To register online, go to:
http://www.ilmaternal.org/ncihc/registration.html

For comprehensive conference information, including information on the conference program, go to: http://www.ilmaternal.org/ncihc2010.html Click on the links under the words in black type that read, "Click on a link below for more information about the NCIHC conference."

The Minnesota Coalition for Adult Immunization (MCAI) will present the nineteenth annual "Issues and Strategies in Adult Vaccine Preventable Diseases" on March 19 at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska. The registration deadline is March 12.

To access the conference brochure, click here.

To register online, click here.

For additional information, contact Mari Drake at maridrake@comcast.net or (651) 428-6591.