Issue 1406: January 16, 2019
TOP STORIES
IAC HANDOUTS
WORLD NEWS
FEATURED RESOURCES
JOURNAL ARTICLES AND NEWSLETTERS
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS
TOP STORIES
CDC releases preliminary estimates of the cumulative numbers of flu illnesses, medical visits, and hospitalizations so far this season in the U.S.—between 6 to 7 million people have been sick with flu
CDC has released preliminary estimates of the cumulative numbers of flu illnesses, medical visits, and hospitalizations in the U.S. for the 2018–2019 flu season. CDC today reported that so far this season, between 6 million and 7 million people have been sick with flu, up to half of those people have sought medical care for their illness, and between 69,000 and 84,000 people have been hospitalized from flu. Estimates of flu-related deaths will be provided at a later time, when there is sufficient data to support a more precise estimate for that outcome.
CDC stated in its Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report, FluView, that as of the week ending January 5, influenza activity was increasing in the U.S. and was widespread in 30 states. Three influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported to CDC during week 1, for a total of 16 influenza-associated pediatric deaths reported for the 2018–2019 season. Last season, there were a record-setting number of pediatric deaths in the U.S. (172), so be sure to protect all your patients for whom vaccination is recommended.
Influenza vaccination is recommended for everyone six months of age and older. If you don't provide influenza vaccination in your clinic, please recommend vaccination to your patients and refer them to a clinic or pharmacy that provides vaccines or to the HealthMap Vaccine Finder to locate sites near their workplaces or homes that offer influenza vaccination services.
Following is a list of resources related to influenza disease and vaccination for healthcare professionals and the public:
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January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month; many resources are available for you and your patients
Cervical Cancer Awareness Month is an annual observance in January that can be used to highlight the need to improve HPV vaccination coverage. CDC has suggested sharing the following resources, accessible on its website, for raising awareness of cervical cancer:
The National Cervical Cancer Coalition also has many downloadable resources for promoting awareness on its Cervical Health Awareness Month web page, including:
Stories told by those affected by HPV are informative and especially powerful educational tools. Below are just a few examples:
Related Links
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ZDoggMD explains the urgency of hepatitis B vaccination for newborns in online presentation titled “Why Vaccinate So Early?”; CME/CEU available
Dr. Zubin Damania (also known as "ZDoggMD") recently posted an 8-minute video titled Why Vaccinate So Early? In this informative video, he explains to parents why it is crucial that they protect their newborns against hepatitis B by having them vaccinated within 24 hours of birth.
Dr. Damania is a UCSF/Stanford-trained internal medicine physician who has built a second career as an entertaining source of medical information and a satirist of the U.S. healthcare system. In this video he maintains an urgent, more serious tone to present his message.
View the video presentation: Why Vaccinate So Early?
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American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists posts “Strategies for Integrating Immunizations into Routine Obstetric-Gynecologic Care” tip sheet and final report from its adult immunization project
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has recently posted two new resources online. The Strategies for Integrating Immunizations into Routine Obstetric-Gynecologic Care tip sheet offers suggestions to obstetricians and gynecologists and other healthcare providers for integrating immunization into routine patient care. A second resource is ACOG's final report, also titled Strategies for Effectively Integrating Immunizations into Routine Obstetric-Gynecologic Care, on the demonstration phase of its adult immunization project that led to the development of the strategies in the tip sheet.
ACOG offers other tip sheets, clinical guidance materials, and practice management tools on its Immunization for Women website.
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O, The Oprah Magazine publishes article titled “5 Myths about the Flu Shot, Debunked”
O, The Oprah Magazine published 5 Myths about the Flu Shot, Debunked on December 12, 2018. Two experts are quoted in the article: Dr. Mark Thompson, acting deputy chief of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of CDC’s Influenza Division, and Dr. L.J Tan, chief strategy officer of IAC.
The article addresses and debunks the following myths about influenza:
- The flu shot can make you sick
- You don't need it if you take care of yourself
- The flu shot doesn't work well
- It isn't necessary because the flu isn't so bad
- It's too late to get vaccinated after the fall
Read the complete article: 5 Myths about the Flu Shot, Debunked.
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IAC Spotlight! On the "View All Materials" pages on IAC’s website you can find links to more than 300 IAC patient handouts, staff education materials, and slide sets available on immunize.org
On the "View All Materials" web pages in the Handouts section of IAC's website, you can find more than 300 handouts for patients as well as educational materials, including links to slide sets, for healthcare professionals.
Clicking on the "View All Materials" tab on the Handouts for Patients and Staff page allows you to sort and view the handouts by title, language, date of most recent update, and item number.
Visit the "View All Materials" pages to view them sorted:
You also have the choice of viewing all educational materials for staff or all handouts for patients:
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December's Technically Speaking column by IAC executive director Dr. Deborah Wexler is titled "Looking Back Over 2018 Can Help Ensure Optimal Vaccination Practices in 2019"
Technically Speaking is a monthly column written by IAC executive director Dr. Deborah Wexler for Vaccine Update for Healthcare Providers, a monthly e-newsletter from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The column covers practical topics in immunization, such as vaccine administration, immunization scheduling, vaccine storage and handling, and vaccine recommendations.
December's column is titled Looking Back Over 2018 Can Help Ensure Optimal Vaccination Practices in 2019 and is reprinted below.
Looking Back Over 2018 Can Help Ensure Optimal Vaccination Practices in 2019
Published December 2018
Hopefully, each month you find the "Technically Speaking" article to be helpful when it comes to providing tips and information related to vaccine administration. As another year comes to an end, we wanted to remind you to bookmark some of the most popular columns from 2018, so that you can refer to them in the coming year and share them with new or existing staff.
When you make a daily effort to immunize patients, the process can become routine. While repetition is useful for making staff comfortable with procedures, it can also lead to less attention to detail—setting the stage for inadvertent vaccine administration errors. Periodic review of vaccine administration procedures as a team, or providing vaccinators with articles such as these, can help to identify variability in procedures and offer opportunities to discuss and standardize care within your practice.
So, as 2018 winds down, take a moment to review the most popular "Technically Speaking" articles from the past year, and begin 2019 with renewed commitment to developing standardized or "best" practices within your healthcare setting for immunization of your patients:
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IAC HANDOUTS
IAC revises "Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B Vaccines: Be Sure Your Patients Get the Correct Dose"
IAC recently revised Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B Vaccines: Be Sure Your Patients Get the Correct Dose. Changes were made to indicate the lower age for which vaccination should be administered before travel (previously it was 12 months; now it is 6 months), to note that the dose given at younger than age 12 months does not count toward the recommended 2-dose series, and to include an additional reference.
Related Links
IAC's Handouts for Patients & Staff web section offers healthcare professionals and the public more than 250 FREE English-language handouts (many also available in translation), which we encourage website users to print out, copy, and distribute widely.
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IAC updates its standing orders templates for administering hepatitis A vaccine to children/teens as well as to adults
IAC recently updated its two standing orders templates for administering hepatitis A vaccine:
Standing Orders for Administering Hepatitis A Vaccine to Children and Teens. Changes were made to indicate the lower age for which vaccination should be administered before travel (previously it was 12 months; now it is 6 months) and to note that the dose given at younger than age 12 months does not count toward the recommended 2-dose series, to add homelessness as a risk factor, to indicate the dosage of immunoglobulin (IG) to give to a child younger than 12 months with a possible exposure to hepatitis A, and to include a table specific to children traveling to countries with risk of hepatitis A infection.
Standing Orders for Administering Hepatitis A Vaccine to Adults. Changes were made to qualify the countries having intermediate or high risk for hepatitis A as well as to add homelessness as a risk factor; to emphasize the recommendation for pre-exposure use of both IG and vaccine to adults having certain medical conditions or being age 41 years or older, including different dosages according to duration of travel; and to clarify IG post-exposure protocol for adults older than 40 years, with reference included.
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IAC updates its 4-page handout for patients and healthcare professionals titled "Hepatitis A: Questions and Answers"
IAC recently updates its 4-page handout for patients and healthcare professionals titled Hepatitis A: Questions and Answers. Changes were made to update common symptoms of hepatitis A infection, morbidity data from CDC, the recommended age for vaccination of children traveling to high-risk countries (previously it was 12 months; now it is 6 months), and to add a note that vaccination of infants 6 through 11 months does not count toward the recommended 2-dose series, to add homelessness as an indicator for vaccination, to expand the definition of homeless, and to indicate a preference for vaccination of people with recent exposure to hepatitis A with an option of also receiving immunoglobulin at the clinician's discretion.
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IAC revises its hepatitis A questionnaire for adults: “Should You Be Vaccinated Against Hepatitis A?”
IAC recently updated its hepatitis A questionnaire for adults: Should You Be Vaccinated Against Hepatitis A? Changes were made to add homelessness as a risk factor for the receipt of hepatitis A vaccine.
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IAC updates its handout for patients: “Hepatitis A Is a Serious Liver Disease…Vaccination Can Protect You”
IAC recently updated its handout for patients: Hepatitis A Is a Serious Liver Disease…Vaccination Can Protect You. Changes were made to incorporate the recent ACIP recommendation to add homelessness as a risk factor for hepatitis A vaccination.
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IAC revises "Standing Orders for Administering Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine to Children"
IAC revised Standing Orders for Administering Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine to Children by including an additional page containing the stand-alone page of PCV recommendations by age and risk factor that had been inadvertently omitted in the previously posted version from October 2018.
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WORLD NEWS
The Journal of Infectious Diseases releases "Eradicating Measles—A Call for an Exceptional Coordinated Global Effort"
The Journal of Infectious Diseases has released an accepted manuscript titled Eradicating Measles—A Call for an Exceptional Coordinated Global Effort, by D.N. Durrheim, et al., in its January 7 issue. A summary by the authors is reprinted below:
There are compelling epidemiological, economic and ethical arguments for setting a global measles eradication goal. The six chairpersons of Regional Verification Commissions for Measles and Rubella elimination advocate that the time for courageously accelerating efforts to ensure a world where no child dies of measles, is NOW!
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January’s Parent’s PACK newsletter from the Vaccine Education Center includes video about viral infections and why shingles and HPV can remain in host long-term
Parents PACK (Possessing, Accessing, and Communicating Knowledge about vaccines) from the Vaccine Education Center (VEC) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia offers an electronic newsletter for parents. The January issue features an article titled The Stages of Viral Infection: How HPV and Shingles Play the Long Game. Accompanying this article is a video with Dr. Paul Offit, along with a transcript, in which he explains this subject further.
The January issue also includes the following:
Healthcare providers should check out the issue and encourage parents to subscribe to the free Parents PACK newsletter.
To find more information about their resources, visit the Parents PACK home page.
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The VaccinesWork.org community blogging platform from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, posts interactive map of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks
The VaccinesWork.org community blogging platform from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, connects people and organizations around the world working on immunization issues by sharing stories that build an understanding of the importance of immunization.
One of the informational tools offered on VaccinesWork.org is an interactive map that enables the viewer to track outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases on a map of the world. The viewer selects a year and a disease from dropdown menus, and the region affected by that outbreak is marked on the world map. In addition, when the viewer selects a year, the number of cases by disease and the number of cases by continent also appear in a section above the world map.
Visit VaccinesWork.org to use the interactive map and to view the many powerful stories related to immunization around the world that you will find there.
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IAC's 142-page book, Vaccinating Adults: A Step-by-Step Guide, describes how to implement adult vaccination services in your healthcare setting and provides a review for staff who already vaccinate adults; IAC Guide available for free download
In late 2017, the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) announced the publication of its new book, Vaccinating Adults: A Step-by-Step Guide (Guide).
This completely updated guide on adult immunization (originally published in 2004) provides easy-to-use, practical information covering important “how-to” activities to help providers enhance their existing adult immunization services or introduce them into any clinical setting, including:
- setting up for vaccination services,
- storing and handling vaccines,
- deciding which people should receive which vaccines,
- administering vaccines,
- documenting vaccinations (including legal issues), and
- understanding financial considerations and billing information.
In addition, the Guide is filled with hundreds of web addresses and references to help providers stay up to date on the latest immunization information, both now and in the future.
The entire Guide is available to download/print free of charge at www.immunize.org/guide. The downloaded version is suitable for double-sided printing. Options are available online to download the entire book or selected chapters. The development of the Guide was supported by the National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Expert staff from both agencies also provided early technical review of the content.
The Guide is a uniquely valuable resource to assist providers in increasing adult immunization rates. Be sure to get a copy today!
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JOURNAL ARTICLES AND NEWSLETTERS
Nature publishes analysis of the research and development of new vaccines and the outlook for the future
Nature magazine published From the Analyst's Couch: Infectious Disease Vaccines, by A.K. Shen et al., on December 19, 2018. This advance online publication analyses the research and development of new vaccines and the outlook for the future. The first two paragraphs are reprinted below.
Vaccines have a huge impact on human health in both industrialized and developing countries, but account for a small fraction of biopharmaceutical industry sales. Just 3.5% ($28 billion) of worldwide prescription drug sales were from vaccines in 2017, according to data from EvaluatePharma.
Given the impact of vaccination on public health, policy makers and other stakeholders support the development of new and improved vaccines and the optimal use of existing licensed vaccines. A recent report mandated by the US Congress summarizes the current vaccine development landscape (see Related links). This report concluded that much progress is being made in understanding the complex scientific issues for current and future vaccine targets and provided recommendations on supporting further vaccine development. It is clear that new innovative and flexible public–private partnerships will be essential to incentivize the development of vaccines through licensure when market incentives are not strong enough to pull development through to commercialization. Given this context, we explore three questions in this article: first, what is the status of the development pipeline for infectious disease vaccines; second, which types of companies are engaged in these programmes; and third, what are the implications for the future?
Access the full article:
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CDC publishes report on establishing a baseline for 2015–2016 cervical cancer screening coverage in India in this week’s MMWR
CDC published Establishing Baseline Cervical Cancer Screening Coverage—India, 2015–2016 in the January 11 issue of MMWR (pages 14–19). A summary made available to the press is reprinted below.
Among women ages 30–49, fewer than one in three Indian women in the age range for screening for cervical cancer reported having been screened. Measuring cervical cancer screening and identifying socioeconomic factors associated with the acceptance of screening can be used to plan targeted interventions, screening campaigns, and evaluation to help India meet the goal of universal cervical cancer screening. Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of new cancer cases among women in India. In 2016, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India recommended population-based cervical cancer screening for all women ages 30–65 years. In 2015–16, for the first time, one of the largest national surveys (over 700,000 women) conducted in India asked reproductive-aged women if they had ever been screened for cervical cancer. Fewer than one in three Indian women (ages 30–49) reported having been screened for cervical cancer. There was substantial geographic variation, and screening rates were higher among women with more education, greater wealth, and who had ever been married.
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- MMWR main page provides access to MMWR Weekly, MMWR Recommendations and Reports, MMWR Surveillance Summaries, and MMWR Supplements
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EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Us vs. HPV, a free webinar series on HPV prevention, is scheduled for January 22–28
A free online, on-demand webinar series titled Us Vs. HPV, is scheduled for January 22–28, 12:00 p.m., during HPV Prevention Week. The series is sponsored by the American Medical Women's Association, Global Initiative Against HPV and Cervical Cancer, and Indiana University. The webinars are intended for the public as well as for healthcare providers. All webinars will be recorded.
Reminder: Registration open for February 27–28 ACIP meeting
ACIP will hold its next meeting on February 27–28 in Atlanta. To attend the meeting, ACIP attendees (participants and visitors) must register online. The registration deadline for non-U.S. citizens is January 30; for U.S. citizens, it's February 15. Registration is not required to watch the meeting via webcast or listen to the proceedings via phone. See the first link below for the toll-free phone number and passcode.
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