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IAC Spotlight! IAC enrolls nine new birthing institutions into its Hepatitis B Birth Dose Honor Roll; 13 previously honored institutions qualify for additional years' honors

The Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) is pleased to announce that nine new institutions have been accepted into its Hepatitis B Birth Dose Honor Roll. The birthing institutions are listed below with their reported hepatitis B birth dose coverage rates in parentheses.

• Baylor, Scott & White Medical Center–Waxahachie, Waxahachie, TX (92%)
• Cogdell Memorial Hospital, Snyder, TX (100%)
• Coon Memorial Hospital, Dalhart, TX (95%)
• McLaren Central Michigan, Mt. Pleasant, MI (91%)
• MidMichigan Health–Midland, Midland, MI (92%)
• OSF St. Francis Hospital and Medical Group, Escanaba, MI (90%)
• Rolling Plains Memorial Hospital, Sweetwater, TX (90%)
• Sparrow Carson Hospital, Carson City, MI (90%)
• Unity Health–Harris Medical Center, Newport, AR (94%)

The following five institutions are being recognized for a second year:

• Holland Hospital, Holland, MI (91%)
• Mercy Health Muskegon, Muskegon, MI (93%)
• MidMichigan Health–Midland, Midland, MI (91%)
• Morton Hospital, Taunton, MA (95%)
• Sparrow Carson Hospital, Carson City, MI (92%)

In addition, the following six institutions are being recognized for a third year:

• Mercy Health Muskegon, Muskegon, MI (92%)
• Beaumont Hospital–Wayne, Wayne, MI (92%)
• MidMichigan Health–Gratiot, Alma, MI (94%)
• MidMichigan Health–Midland, Midland, MI (93%)
• Morton Hospital, Taunton, MA (94%)
• Three Rivers Health, Three Rivers, MI (92%)

Finally, the following two institutions are being recognized for a fourth year:

• Beaumont Hospital–Wayne, Wayne, MI (91%)
• Sinai-Grace Hospital, Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI (94%)

Note: A number of these institutions qualified for multiple 12-month periods at one time.

The Honor Roll now includes 333 birthing institutions from 38 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Seventy institutions have qualified for two years, 37 institutions have qualified three times, 8 institutions have qualified four times, and 3 institutions have qualified five times.

The Honor Roll is a key part of IAC’s major initiative urging the nation’s hospitals to Give birth to the end of Hep B. Hospitals and birthing centers are recognized for attaining high coverage rates for administering hepatitis B vaccine at birth and meeting specific additional criteria. The initiative urges qualifying healthcare organizations to apply for the Hepatitis B Birth Dose Honor Roll online.

To be included in the Hepatitis B Birth Dose Honor Roll, a birthing institution must have: (1) reported a coverage rate of 90 percent or greater, over a 12-month period, for administering hepatitis B vaccine before hospital discharge to all newborns, including those whose parents refuse vaccination, and (2) implemented specific written policies, procedures, and protocols to protect all newborns from hepatitis B virus infection prior to hospital discharge.

Honorees are also awarded an 8.5" x 11" color certificate suitable for framing and their acceptance is announced to IAC Express’s approximately 50,000 readers.

Please visit the Hepatitis B Birth Dose Honor Roll web page that lists these institutions and their exceptional efforts to protect infants from perinatal hepatitis B transmission.

Related Links

• Give birth to the end of Hep B web page on immunize.org
• Fact sheet about the birth dose honor roll: Do you qualify for the Hepatitis B Birth Dose Honor Roll? If so, apply today. Also available in black & white.
• Fact sheet about the importance of the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose: Give birth to the end of Hep B. Also available in black & white.
• Hepatitis B Birth Dose Honor Roll web page
• 84-page guidebook, Hepatitis B: What Hospitals Need to Do to Protect Newborns, which contains a wide range of resources to help birthing institutions establish, implement, and optimize their hepatitis B vaccine birth dose policies
• Give birth to the end of Hep B slide set, includes script (43 slides)

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Reminder: CDC 6-part NetConference series about adult immunization scheduled for Wednesdays, April 12–May 31

CDC's 6-part NetConference series on vaccinating adults will start next week. A collaborative effort between CDC and Maryland’s adult immunization coalition and state immunization program, the "Vaccinating Adults" series will feature 6 presentations by experts in promoting, administering, and securing reimbursement for adult immunizations.

• Wednesday, April 12—Burden of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Adults: Medical, Social, and Economic Costs
• Wednesday, April 19—Provider Reimbursement for Adult Immunizations
• Wednesday, April 26—Immunizing Adults: Immunization Schedule, Coverage, and Challenges
• Wednesday, May 17—Immunizing Older Adults and the Chronically Ill
• Wednesday, May 24—Immunizing Pregnant Women, Health Care Personnel, and in the Workplace
• Wednesday, May 31—Clinic Logistics: Vaccine Administration, Storage, and Handling

Each session will start at 12:00 p.m. (ET).

Continuing education will be available for each event. The series will be archived later on CDC's website.

Advanced registration is required to participate.

Related Link

• Current Issues in Immunization NetConference web section

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OFFICIAL RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

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National Academies publishes phase 2 of  "A National Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis B and C"; related webinar scheduled for April 10

On March 28, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) published a consensus report, A National Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis B and C: Phase Two Report. It is available to the public at nationalacademies.org/HepatitisElimination. This report provides a useful set of goals and recommendations, and identifies innovative concepts to resolve difficult issues. A summary is reprinted below.

Each year, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus cause nearly 1.5 million deaths worldwide—more than HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. Such loss of life comes at a cost to society through the direct expense of treatment as well as through the loss of adults in their prime. In an effort to describe a strategy for eliminating viral hepatitis as a U.S. public health problem by 2030, the National Academies, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable, convened an expert committee to outline a national strategy. The committee produced two reports. The first report, Eliminating the Public Health Problem of Hepatitis B and C in the United States: Phase One Report, concluded that both hepatitis B and C could be eliminated as a public health problem in the United States, but that there are substantial obstacles to meeting this goal. This second report, A National Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis B and C: Phase Two Report, recommends specific actions to hasten the end of these diseases and lays out five areas—information, interventions, service delivery, financing, and research—to consider in the national plan.

On April 10, Hep B United and the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable will sponsor a community discussion on this consensus report from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (ET). Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, chair, Committee on a National Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis B and C and chancellor, Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, will present the National Academies' recommendations.

• Registration information

Related Links

• Report Highlights
• Report Recommendations
• National Academies press release: U.S. Could Be Rid of Hepatitis B and C as Public Health Problems, Preventing Nearly 90,000 Deaths by 2030, With Better Attention to Prevention, Screening, Treatment, and Creative Financing for Medicines
• National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine website
• Hep B United website
• National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable website

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National Institutes of Health releases statement about World Tuberculosis Day

On March 24, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released NIH Statement on World Tuberculosis Day. The first three paragraphs are reprinted below.

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s most devastating infectious diseases. March 24th marks the day in 1882 when German microbiologist Robert Koch announced he had discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes this ancient scourge. Today, in recognition of World TB Day, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), reasserts its commitment to improving our understanding of TB and how to prevent, diagnose, and treat it. Around the globe, researchers and the public health community are united in working toward these goals.

TB is the world’s leading cause of death from an infectious disease, especially among women and children. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1.8 million people worldwide died of TB in 2015. The symptoms of the disease, which is transmitted through the air and primarily affects the lungs, often begin with coughing, shortness of breath, or swollen lymph nodes—but can end in death if left untreated. People with HIV are especially vulnerable: of deaths among people co-infected with HIV and TB, about one quarter are due to TB. In addition, the World Health Organization estimates that about one-third of the world’s population is infected with “latent” TB, in which people carry the bacterium while exhibiting no symptoms. Five to 10 percent of these latent TB carriers risk developing active TB at some point in their lifetimes. For latent TB carriers who are infected with HIV, this risk is approximately 10 percent per year. Finally, it is important to note that smoking substantially increases TB disease occurrence and risk of death due to TB worldwide.

A safe and highly effective vaccine against TB will be a critical tool in ultimately controlling the infection. Currently, the only available vaccine against TB is bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG), developed in 1921. While this vaccine offers protection against disseminated disease and death in children, it is much less effective against the transmissible pulmonary form of the disease in adults. NIAID supports research across the spectrum of basic, preclinical, and clinical development to arrive at innovative new approaches toward the development of vaccines to prevent this disease.

Access the complete NIH Statement on World Tuberculosis Day.

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WORLD NEWS

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Africa unites to confront threat of polio; over 116 million children to be immunized

On March 24, UNICEF and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative posted a joint press release titled From coast to coast: Africa unites to tackle threat of polio. The first two paragraphs are reprinted below.

More than 190,000 polio vaccinators in 13 countries across west and central Africa will immunize more than 116 million children over the next week, to tackle the last remaining stronghold of polio on the continent.
 
The synchronized vaccination campaign, one of the largest of its kind ever implemented in Africa, is part of urgent measures to permanently stop polio on the continent. All children under five years of age in the 13 countries—Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone—will be simultaneously immunized in a coordinated effort to raise childhood immunity to polio across the continent. In August 2016, four children were paralysed by the disease in security-compromised areas in Borno state, north-eastern Nigeria, widely considered to be the only place on the continent where the virus maintains its grip. 

Related Links

• UNICEF website
• Global Polio Eradication Initiative website

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WHO publishes update on yellow fever vaccination recommendations for travelers to Brazil

On March 20, the World Health Organization (WHO) published an update on yellow fever vaccination recommendations for international travelers related to the current situation in Brazil. Selections from the update are reprinted below.

As of 16 March 2017, yellow fever virus transmission continues to expand towards the Atlantic coast of Brazil in areas not deemed to be at risk for yellow fever transmission prior to the revised risk assessment...

The WHO Secretariat has determined that the State of Rio de Janeiro, with the exception of the urban areas of Rio de Janeiro City and Niterói, and the State of São Paulo, with the exception of the urban areas of São Paulo City and Campinas, should also be considered at risk for yellow fever transmission.

Consequently, vaccination against yellow fever is recommended for international travellers visiting those areas in the States of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The typology of activities that international travellers anticipate to undertake while visiting areas determined to be at risk for yellow fever transmission should be weighted in the risk-benefit analysis informing the individual decision to be immunized against yellow fever.

Access the complete update: Updates on yellow fever vaccination recommendations for international travellers related to the current situation in Brazil.

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CDC publishes two articles about a yellow fever outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo

CDC published the following related articles in the March 31 issue of MMWR: 

• Yellow Fever Outbreak—Kongo Central Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, August 2016
• Notes from the Field: Adverse Events Following a Mass Yellow Fever Immunization Campaign — Kongo Central Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, September 2016

Related Links

• MMWR main page provides access to MMWR Weekly, MMWR Recommendations and Reports, MMWR Surveillance Summaries, and MMWR Supplements
• Free MMWR electronic subscription

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WHO publishes report on epidemic meningitis control in countries of the African meningitis belt

The World Health Organization (WHO) published Epidemic meningitis control in countries of the African meningitis belt, 2016 in the March 31 issue of its Weekly Epidemiological Record. The first two paragraphs are reprinted below.
 
Meningococcal meningitis is a bacterial disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis (N.m). Of the 13 subtypes or serogroups of N.m. identified, 4 (N.m. A, B, C and W) are recognized to be the main causes of epidemics, while occasional outbreaks are also caused by N.m. X and Y. Meningococcal meningitis cases occur throughout the world. However, large, recurring epidemics affect an extensive region of sub-Saharan Africa known as the “meningitis belt” which comprises 26 countries from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east. In this area, outbreaks occur during the dry “epidemic” season, usually covering the first half of the year. Before 2010, serogroup A was responsible for the large majority of epidemics in this area.

Starting in 2010, the progressive introduction of a meningococcal A conjugate vaccine (MACV) in the epidemic-prone areas of 19 countries of the African meningitis belt through preventive mass vaccination campaigns has dramatically reduced N.m. A cases and eliminated N.m. A epidemics in these areas. To sustain this success, the campaign strategy should be followed by the introduction of the vaccine into the routine childhood immunization programme within 1–5 years following campaign completion, along with a one-time catch up campaign for birth cohorts born since the mass campaign and not targeted by the routine immunization programme.

Related Link

• Current issue and archives of the Weekly Epidemiological Record

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