|
||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Top Stories
Immunize.org Website and Clinical Resources
Featured Resources
Notable Publications
Upcoming Events
Top Stories
The third annual Shingles Awareness Week will be held February 26–March 1. The week was established to raise awareness about the risks of shingles (zoster). About one out of every three unvaccinated people in the United States will develop shingles in their lifetime. CDC recommends two doses of recombinant zoster vaccine (Shingrix, GSK) to prevent shingles and related complications in adults age 50 and older. Shingrix is also recommended for adults 19 years and older who have weakened immune systems because of disease or treatments that affect the immune system.
Immunize.org posts revised template for healthcare providers: "Standing Orders for Administering Pneumococcal Vaccine to Children and Teens"
In an era of multiple pneumococcal vaccination options and changing recommendations, assessment of pneumococcal vaccination can be challenging. In response to feedback from a nurse educator who trains clinical staff on the use of our standing orders, Immunize.org recently revised its Standing Orders for Administering Pneumococcal Vaccine to Children and Teens to add clarifying footnotes for additional considerations when high-risk children and teens have a history of receiving pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23). In addition, we added an inadvertently missing word in one table.
Immunize.org updates “Standing Orders for Administering Meningococcal ACWY Vaccine to Children and Teens" template for healthcare providers
Immunize.org recently made routine updates to its Standing Orders for Administering Meningococcal ACWY Vaccine to Children and Teens template. Changes include:
Related Links
Immunize.org updated its popular patient handout Vaccinations for Preteens and Teens.
Related Links
Immunize.org updates “Clear Answers and Smart Advice about Your Baby's Shots,” an excerpt from Baby 411, by Ari Brown, MD, FAAP
Immunize.org is pleased to offer a special excerpt from Baby 411, a parenting book written by Ari Brown, MD, FAAP. The excerpt, titled Clear Answers and Smart Advice About Your Baby's Shots, comes from Dr. Brown’s vaccination chapter and highlights her most recent responses to media attention regarding vaccine misinformation. Related Links
Influenza-like illness activity remains elevated across the country, with increases in some parts of the country; continue to encourage vaccination
CDC’s Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report, FluView, provides a valuable picture of laboratory-confirmed influenza and influenza-like illness activity state by state. Influenza Vaccination Dashboard
“Are Any of the Available Flu Vaccines Recommended over Others?” Watch the 1-minute answer, part of the Ask the Experts Video Series on YouTube. This week, our featured episode from the Ask the Experts Video Series is Are Any of the Available Flu Vaccines Recommended over Others? The video briefly describes the three influenza vaccines preferentially recommended for individuals age 65 years and older and what to do if none of these are available. Like, follow, and share Immunize.org’s social media accounts and encourage colleagues and others interested in vaccination to do likewise:
These recent articles convey the potential risks of vaccine-preventable diseases and the importance of vaccination.
Immunize.org Website and Clinical Resources
Recap: Immunize.org updates our entire adult vaccinations series of 1-page handouts for your patients
Immunize.org recently updated its entire series of 1-page guides to vaccination considerations for adults. Whether your patient is pregnant, has chronic lung disease, is missing a spleen, or has no specific risks, you will find a guide to vaccination suitable to inform them about vaccines they may need.
Please be sure your practice uses the most current versions of each of the following:
Related Links
Our popular "Ask the Experts" section of the website now offers three ways to quickly find answers you need among the 1,300+ questions and answers in our database:
The keyword search feature in Ask the Experts is robust and quickly finds answers containing your highlighted keywords. When you select a filter, within 2–3 seconds your filtered results will appear. We recently added a new feature on the “Ask the Experts” pages in response to your feedback! Users requested that more questions and answers be displayed per page, so we increased the maximum number of questions per page from 20 to 65. If you want to scan both questions and answers, you can click on Show All Answers to display all questions and answers on a page. Featured Resources
Updated shipping information on our sturdy laminated versions of the 2024 U.S. immunization schedules from Immunize.org
Laminated versions of the 2024 U.S. child and adolescent immunization schedule and the 2024 U.S. adult immunization schedule are shipping now and available in the Immunize.org Shop. A production error required the schedules to be reprinted. Past orders are being replaced and people who place orders now will receive their orders in early March.
Visit the Shop Immunize.org: Laminated Schedules web page to view images of all the pages, to download the order form, and to order today!
Organizing a new vaccination program? Use Immunize.org’s Vaccinating Adults: A Step-by-Step Guide—free to download.
Download Immunize.org’s free 142-page book on adult vaccination to help build your program and train your team: Vaccinating Adults: A Step-by-Step Guide (Guide).
Back to top
Confident recommendations for influenza vaccine from healthcare providers are powerfully persuasive. To assist you in maximizing protection for your patients, Immunize.org, in collaboration with CSL Seqirus, updated the 65+ Flu Defense website.
Check out the updated 65+ Flu Defense website at www.influenza-defense.org to assist your ongoing efforts in protecting this vulnerable population. Notable Publications
“Influenza Vaccination in Pregnancy—Rolling Up Sleeves for Pregnant Persons and Infants” published in JAMA Pediatrics
JAMA Pediatrics published Maternal Vaccine Effectiveness against Influenza-Associated Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits in Infants by Sahni et al, which was described in IZ Express #1,733 on December 20, 2023. An accompanying commentary is now available to put that study’s findings in perspective. Portions of the commentary appear below. The disparities seen in the study by Sahni et al are all too familiar, with non-Hispanic Black infants and those with public insurance being more likely to be born to unvaccinated mothers and being more likely to have influenza-related hospitalizations or ED visits. Systemic and institutional racism contribute to systematic differences in vaccine uptake and to disparate health outcomes for Black pregnant persons and infants. . . . The current issue’s report strengthens the evidence that infants benefit when persons receive the quadrivalent-inactivated influenza vaccine during pregnancy. With only half of pregnant persons receiving the influenza vaccine in this study and nationally, there is a huge opportunity to improve vaccine coverage and health outcomes for all pregnant persons and newborns. To optimize health of the pregnancy dyad, it is essential that vaccine registries expand from children to persons of all ages and thereby eliminate record scatter. A second opportunity is that all clinicians seeing pregnant persons for a pregnancy visit, prenatal visit, or a visit of a child strongly recommend influenza vaccination during pregnancy. A third opportunity is that obstetric and pediatric clinicians collaborate to share effective approaches in their communities to enhance access, confidence, and coverage of vaccines and preventive care. Upcoming Events Virtual: Watch February 28–29 ACIP meeting. Wide-ranging agenda includes discussion on 14 vaccine-preventable diseases.
CDC will convene a 2-day meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, February 28–29, starting at 8:00 a.m. (ET). ACIP will discuss influenza; chikungunya; COVID–19; polio; HPV; meningococcal; pneumococcal; RSV; diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis; Hib; and hepatitis B vaccines. No registration is required to watch webcasts of live ACIP meetings or listen via telephone. Opportunities for public comment are described on the website.
North Dakota State University hosts webinar titled “From Elimination to Resurgence: The Challenges of Controlling Vaccine-Preventable Disease in a Changing World” on March 5 at 1:00 p.m. (ET); CME available
North Dakota State University will host a webinar titled From Elimination to Resurgence: The Challenges of Controlling Vaccine-Preventable Disease in a Changing World at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on March 5. The webinar will feature Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, MPH, author of the newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist and scientific consultant to key organizations, including the White House and CDC. Dr. Jetelina will describe the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) in the United States, explore factors driving VPD resurgence globally, and outline tangible solutions, particularly around scientific communication. For more upcoming events, visit our Calendar of Events. |
||||||||||||
|
