Federal Inflation Reduction Act signed into law expands access to all ACIP-recommended vaccines without cost-sharing for Medicaid and Medicare Part D beneficiaries
The Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law by President Biden on August 16. This landmark legislation contains important new provisions expanding access to all recommended vaccinations for Medicaid and Medicare recipients. The new law eliminates out-of-pocket costs for all vaccines recommended by ACIP for over 45 million adults enrolled in Medicaid and nearly 50 million Medicare Part D beneficiaries.
Immunize.org is proud to have championed these policies for more than a decade through the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit (NAIIS), a coalition of over 140 partners co-led by Immunize.org, CDC, and the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, and through its active participation in the Adult Vaccine Access Coalition (AVAC). A portion of the AVAC press release appears below.
Beginning in 2023, the Inflation Reduction Law will provide free recommended vaccines, greatly improving access and utilization, by mandating:
- First dollar coverage (no copays or out of pocket expenses) of adult vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices under Medicare Part D; and,
- Access for adults to vaccines under Medicaid and CHIP by providing a federal baseline for first dollar coverage and an enhanced federal reimbursement for immunizing providers.
Immunize.org posts new VIS translations in Haitian Creole and Portuguese Immunize.org posted translations of Vaccine Information Statements (VISs) issued by CDC on June 1, 2022, and October 15, 2021. These translations were generously donated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Immunization Program.
All translations are available in print-ready PDF format.
VIS translations in Haitian Creole:
VIS translations in Portuguese:
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As schools reconvene, CDC calls on healthcare providers and families to catch up on childhood vaccinations
During the 2020–2021 school year, vaccination coverage among kindergarteners nationwide dropped below the 95% threshold important in preventing transmission of infectious disease threats like measles. With most schools back to in-person learning, now is a crucial time for healthcare providers, school leaders, and public health officials to communicate to families the importance of routine childhood and COVID-19 vaccinations.
CDC’s Back-to-School Call to Action outlines the steps that communities can take to encourage catch up vaccination and protect children’s health.
Help protect children by doing what you can to get the children in your practice, school, and community caught up on recommended vaccines. Remember, COVID-19 vaccination visits can be a great opportunity to catch children up on any missing recommended vaccinations.
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CDC posts "Resources to Promote COVID-19 Vaccines for Children & Teens"
As children return to school or childcare, COVID-19 vaccination is a critical layer of protection against severe illness. CDC developed a new suite of materials to support communication about COVID-19 vaccines as the new school year begins, including:
- Social media posts for your channels to reach parents, partners, and healthcare professionals
- Engaging flyer to distribute in schools, by email, or online
- Customizable template language and imagery for newsletter or website communications
- Social frames for use on your channels and by your followers
- Parent-friendly article or blog post highlighting the importance of COVID-19 vaccination for children
Visit Resources to Promote the COVID-19 Vaccine for Children & Teens to explore new resources available.
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Spotlight: Immunize.org's resources focused on vaccine-preventable diseases, one disease at a time Immunize.org offers a host of materials that focus on specific vaccine-preventable diseases. Here are some highlights.
Our Vaccines main page leads viewers to 24 pages, one for each vaccine-preventable disease, including monkeypox. These pages provide curated materials from public health authorities and Immunize.org on each disease and vaccine.
Our Ask the Experts main page gives you access more to than 1,200 questions answered by Immunize.org experts. Topics include specific diseases and their vaccines as well as vaccine delivery guidance (e.g., administration, billing, documenting).
Our Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) main page links to all current ACIP vaccine recommendations as well as most dating back to 1991. You can sort the ACIP recommendations by diseases or publication date.
Our Unprotected People Stories main page features more than a hundred real-life accounts of people who suffered or died from vaccine-preventable diseases. There are compelling personal testimonies, remembrances, case reports, and newspaper articles.
Our Image Library main page offers hundreds of photos of people affected by vaccine-preventable diseases; micrographs of viruses, bacteria, and pathology specimens; and pictures of people being vaccinated. Please follow noted copyright requirements.
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Journalists interview Immunize.org experts Journalists seek out Immunize.org 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.
These recent articles convey the potential risks of vaccine-preventable diseases and the importance of vaccination.
Reminder: What you measure gets better! Vaccine Track gives users access to data on uptake of CDC-recommended adult vaccines.
Vaccine Track is a new website that displays state and national trend data on use of vaccines recommended for U.S. adults. Vaccine Track is produced through a partnership between GSK and Iqvia, a data analytics company.
As an example of its usefulness, the Vaccine Track main page shows how adult vaccination rates fell during the COVID-19 pandemic, using claims data from Medicare, Medicaid, commercial, and cash services. Vaccine Track shows vaccination trends to help inform and achieve clinical and public health efforts to reach Healthy People 2030 immunization objectives. The data will be refreshed quarterly. CDC adult vaccination coverage reports are typically updated once every 12 months with data at least 1 year old at the time of publication. Vaccine Track is the first tool to make comprehensive vaccination claims data across different payer types available publicly.
Users can explore state and national vaccination trends for adults age 19 years and older in the United States:
- Across multiple vaccines
- Across years
- By demographics (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, gender, payer type)
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AIM creates infographic with actionable recommendations for stakeholders to increase vaccine confidence The Association of Immunization Managers (AIM) recently created an infographic that provides actionable recommendations for stakeholders to increase vaccine confidence. Based on the article published in Vaccine titled Supporting Immunization Programs to Address COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Recommendations for National and Community-Based Stakeholders, and coauthored by Immunize.org’s Dr. Kelly Moore, the infographic highlights challenges to addressing vaccine hesitancy and the importance of community-based partnerships and stakeholder engagement.
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Off the Charts podcast posts new episode titled "Childhood Vaccines and Disparities"
HealthPartners and Regions Hospital Foundation in Saint Paul, Minnesota, launched a podcast titled Off the Charts: Examining the Health Equity Emergency. Focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism, hosts Kari Haley, MD, and Steven Jackson, MD, plus leading guest experts, help expand the definition of healthy communities through open dialogue and conversations. A summary of their August 1st podcast titled Childhood Vaccines and Disparities appears below.
Childhood immunization schedules are designed for children’s young immune systems, helping to protect them from preventable diseases as early and as safely as possible. That’s why it’s so important to stay on schedule – even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Andrea Singh, MD, department chair of pediatrics at Park Nicollet and co-lead of the Children’s Health Initiative, discusses disparities in childhood vaccination rates and how critical vaccines are for keeping kids healthy. Dr. Singh also shares her lifelong passion for teaching and helping people learn, and her experience as a parent and how it relates to building trust with patients and their families.
Recognize colleagues and students with Immunize.org's elegantly designed "Vaccines Save Lives" black enamel pins Immunize.org’s elegantly designed “Vaccines Save Lives” pins are meaningful gifts for people who care about vaccination. The pin makes a refined statement in hard black enamel with gold lettering and edges, measuring 1.125" x 0.75".
The pin is a stick-through-post variety with the back end covered by a round rubber cap that holds the pin securely. A gold metal spring-lock clasp is also provided.
Wear these pins on clothing, uniforms, and white coats to show that you value vaccines.
 
Click here for "Vaccines Save Lives" pin pricing and ordering information.
“Public Health Response to a Case of Paralytic Poliomyelitis in an Unvaccinated Person and Detection of Poliovirus in Wastewater—New York, June–August 2022” published in MMWR
CDC published Public Health Response to a Case of Paralytic Poliomyelitis in an Unvaccinated Person and Detection of Poliovirus in Wastewater—New York, June–August 2022 on August 19 in MMWR. A summary appears below.
Sustained poliovirus transmission has been eliminated from the United States for approximately 40 years; vaccines are highly effective in preventing paralysis after exposure....
In June 2022, poliovirus was confirmed in an unvaccinated immunocompetent adult resident of New York hospitalized with flaccid lower limb weakness. Vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 was isolated from the patient and identified from wastewater samples in two neighboring New York counties....
Unvaccinated persons in the United States remain at risk for paralytic poliomyelitis if they are exposed to either wild or vaccine-derived poliovirus; all persons in the United States should stay up to date on recommended poliovirus vaccination.
Access the MMWR article in HTML or PDF.
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“Safety Monitoring of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Doses among Children Aged 5–11 Years—United States, May 17–July 31, 2022” published in MMWRCDC published Safety Monitoring of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Doses among Children Aged 5–11 Years—United States, May 17–July 31, 2022 on August 19 in MMWR. A portion of the summary appears below.
A Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine booster dose is recommended for children aged 5–11 years; approximately 657,302 third doses were administered to children in this age group during May–July 2022....
Among children aged 5–11 years, local and systemic reactions were reported to v-safe with similar frequency after doses 2 and 3; specific reactions differed in severity. Vaccine administration errors were the most common events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. No reports of myocarditis or death after receipt of dose 3 were received....
Among children aged 5–11 years, serious adverse events after dose 3 are rare. Additional provider education might prevent vaccine administration errors.
Access the MMWR article in HTML or PDF.
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“Progress toward Measles Elimination—South-East Asia Region, 2003–2020” published in MMWR
CDC published Progress toward Measles Elimination—South-East Asia Region, 2003–2020 on August 19 in MMWR. A media summary of the MMWR article appears below.
In the World Health Organization South-East Asia Region, increasing vaccination coverage for the first and second doses of measles-containing vaccine (MCV) contributed to a 92% decrease in measles cases and prevented over 9 million deaths from 2003–2020, but progress has slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic and must be recovered. During 2003 to 2020, countries in the South-East Asia Region made substantial progress toward eliminating measles. Increasing coverage for the first and second doses of MCV to 88% and 80% in 2020, respectively, contributed to a 92% decrease in measles cases and prevented over 9 million deaths in the region. By 2020, 938 million individuals were vaccinated through supplemental immunization activities and five countries eliminated endemic measles transmission. Despite reaching the highest regional MCV coverage in 2019, progress slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic. To prevent measles deaths and advance progress toward regional measles elimination by 2023, urgent work is needed to recover from setbacks to the delivery of measles vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic and implement mass campaigns to close immunity gaps.
Access the MMWR article in HTML or PDF.
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Virtual (today): NFID hosts webinar “Monkeypox Updates” on August 24; CME available
Today, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) will host a webinar titled Monkeypox Updates from 1:00–2:00 p.m. (ET). During this program, William Schaffner, MD, NFID medical director, will moderate the discussion with Captain Agam Rao, MD, Poxvirus and Rabies Branch, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC. Speakers will discuss the public health impacts of monkeypox along with prevention and treatment strategies.
Participation will be limited to the first 500 attendees. An on-demand recording will be available on August 25, 2022.
To register, click here. NFID designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME Credit.
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Virtual: NFID and ACOG host “The Benefits of Maternal Immunization: 2-for-1 Approach to Disease Prevention” webinar on August 30; CME available NFID and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) are collaborating to present a free webinar titled The Benefits of Maternal Immunization: 2-for-1 Approach to Disease Prevention on August 30 from 12:00–1:00 p.m. (ET). During this program, William Schaffner, MD, medical director, NFID, will moderate the discussion with Kevin A. Ault, MD, professor and chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Western Michigan University, and Flor Muñoz, MD, MSc, associate professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases, Baylor College of Medicine. Speakers will discuss current U.S. vaccination recommendations for pregnant individuals and best practices for making strong recommendations.
To register, click here. NFID designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME Credit.
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On-demand: American Public Health Association and the National Academy of Medicine’s recorded webinar on “Monkeypox: The State of the Science”
American Public Health Association (APHA) and National Academy of Medicine (NAM) offered a webinar titled Monkeypox: The State of the Science on August 18. The webinar is now available for viewing on-demand. During the webinar, a panel of experts discussed the current state of the science of monkeypox, the disease epidemiology, available and emergent prevention options, critical research questions, and planning considerations as we respond to this pandemic.
Watch this recording on-demand.
On-demand: CDC’s “The Pink Book” chapter webinars on vaccine-preventable diseases and best practices roll out weekly. Meningococcal chapter now available, with CE.
CDC continues its 19-part pre-recorded webinar series to provide a chapter-by-chapter overview of the 14th edition of Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (also known as "The Pink Book").
Webinar #9, on meningococcal vaccines, was released on August 23. Additional webinars will be released weekly, concluding on November 1, 2022.
No registration is required to view the sessions. Information and program details are available on CDC's Pink Book Webinars series web page.
CME, CNE, CPE, and CEU credits are available for each event. Questions about the material can be submitted to [email protected].
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