Immunize.org reviews and updates the Checklist of Current Versions of U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Guidance and Clinic Support Tools every month, prominently indicating when it was last updated at the top of the page. This month’s update reflects CDC’s new recommendation for booster doses for children age 6 months through 4 years who received Pfizer-BioNTech monovalent vaccines as the 3-dose primary series. Children in this age group who received a Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine as the third dose of the primary series are still not recommended to receive a booster dose.

All COVID-19 vaccination providers should review the checklist regularly. The checklist is posted on Immunize.org's Vaccines: COVID-19 main page, to help practices stay up to date.



Related Links

• Immunize.org: Checklist of Current Versions of U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Guidance and Clinic Support Tools (PDF)
• Immunize.org: Vaccines: COVID-19 main page
• Immunize.org: Ask the Experts: COVID-19 web page
• CDC: Interim Clinical Considerations main page summarizing use of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States

Anyone can be infected with hepatitis B and all adults can benefit from knowing their status and being protected. April 30 is National Adult Hepatitis B Vaccination Awareness Day—a great time to make sure your patients know they need to be protected from the world's leading cause of liver cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine is now routinely recommended for adults age 19–59, yet 70% of adults have not completed the series. Adults age 60 and older also may be vaccinated.

The Hepatitis B Foundation offers a social media toolkit featuring graphics and sample posts. The toolkit includes a Call to Action to eliminate hepatitis B through universal adult hepatitis B screening and vaccination.



Related Links

• CDC: Viral Hepatitis web page
• Hepatitis B Foundation: National Adult Hepatitis B Vaccination Awareness 2023 resources
• Immunize.org: Vaccines: Hepatitis B main page

April is National Minority Health Month, a time to focus on the importance of reducing health disparities. This year’s theme focuses on improving health outcomes for racial and ethnic minority and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities by providing them with culturally and linguistically competent healthcare services, information, and resources. When patients get this type of culturally appropriate support, they are empowered to create healthier outcomes for themselves and their communities.

• HHS: National Minority Health Month web page
• Immunize.org: Vaccine Information Statement main page for VISs in 47 languages
• Immunize.org: Handouts for Patients and Staff main page, where you can sort materials by topic, vaccine, or language
• Immunize.org: Educational Materials for Patients and Staff—an alphabetical listing of more than 230 ready-to-print staff educational materials and patient handouts

Immunize.org's Handouts for Patients and Staff web page leads users to hundreds of free vaccination-related patient handouts and fact sheets for healthcare professionals. All items are ready to print, copy, and distribute widely.

Visit the Handouts for Patients and Staff web page to view more than 230 handouts sorted by:

• Topic
• Vaccine
• Language

From the main page, you can search by any of the 22 topics. Some of the most popular are:

• Administering Vaccines
• Parent Handouts
• Screening Checklists
• Standing Orders
• Temperature Logs
• Top Handouts

• Summary of Recommendations for Children and Teens
• Summary of Recommendations for Adults
• Vaccinations for Adults—You’re Never Too Old to Get Immunized
• When Do Children and Teens Need Vaccinations?
• How to Administer Intramuscular and Subcutaneous Vaccine Injections: Administration by the Intramuscular (IM) Route

You can also view an alphabetical listing of Immunize.org’s more than 230 ready-to-print staff educational materials and patient handouts.

Visit Immunize.org's Handouts for Patients and Staff web page today!

These recent articles convey the potential risks of vaccine-preventable diseases and the importance of vaccination.

• Bloomberg Law: Future COVID Shots Need Broader Coverage, FDA Vaccine Head Says (4/4/23)
• Scripps News: What Happens to COVID Vaccines When the Public Health Emergency Ends? (4/3/23)
• Precision Vaccinations: Has Polio Returned to America (4/3/23)

Immunize.org recently updated two of its print-ready documents: Administering Vaccines: Dose, Route, Site, and Needle Size and Administering Vaccines to Adults: Dose, Route, Site, and Needle Size. The documents now reflect the recent FDA approval of intramuscular (IM) administration of Merck's measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR, brand name M-M-R II), varicella (Varivax), and MMRV (ProQuad) vaccines as an alternative to subcutaneous (Subcut) administration. GSK’s MMR (Priorix) remains approved for Subcut administration only.

Related Links

• Immunize.org: Handouts: Administering Vaccines main page
• Immunize.org: Handouts for Patients and Staff main page, where you can sort materials by topic, vaccine, or language
• Immunize.org: Educational Materials for Patients and Staff—an alphabetical listing of more than 230 ready-to-print staff educational materials and patient handouts

Immunize.org recently updated its How to Administer Intramuscular and Subcutaneous Vaccine Injections handout and How to Administer Intramuscular and Subcutaneous Vaccine Injections to Adults handout. Changes include:

• Intramuscular (IM) administration of Merck's MMR (M-M-R II), varicella (Varivax), and MMRV (ProQuad) vaccines as well as the current subcutaneous (Subcut) listing. GSK's MMR (Priorix) remains Subcut only.
• Grouping vaccines into categories of IM only, IM or Subcut, Subcut only, and Subcut or intradermal routes

Related Links

• Immunize.org: Handouts: Administering Vaccines main page
• Immunize.org: Handouts for Patients and Staff main page, where you can sort materials by topic, vaccine, or language
• Immunize.org: Educational Materials for Patients and Staff—an alphabetical listing of more than 230 ready-to-print staff educational materials and patient handouts

Immunize.org recently updated its handout for parents titled Top Ten Reasons to Protect Your Child by Vaccinating. Minor changes were made to the text to enhance comprehension. A QR code in the footer now links to the online version of the document.



Related Links

• Immunize.org: Handouts for Patients and Staff main page, where you can sort materials by topic, vaccine, or language
• Immunize.org: Educational Materials for Patients and Staff—an alphabetical listing of more than 230 ready-to-print staff educational materials and patient handouts

Immunize.org updated its Talking about Vaccines: Religious Concerns main page. This page leads to many resources from Immunize.org, CDC, and others to help healthcare professionals communicate with parents and patients about important vaccine topics. Additions are described below.

• Added the Statement on COVID-19 Vaccines from the Orthodox Union and Rabbinical Council of America from the Orthodox Union (OU) and the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA)
• Added Address Concerns About Religious Beliefs from the American Pharmacists Association Vaccine Confident Initiative

Related Link

• Immunize.org: Talking about Vaccines main page

Immunize.org's Vaccine Timeline main page was updated on April 4 to include new events related to vaccines and immunization. The chart on the main page displays many of the vaccine- and immunization-related events since Edward Jenner's first smallpox vaccination in 1796. This list is by no means exhaustive.

If you would like to suggest an event to add, contact us at admin@immunize.org.

April is Sexually Transmitted Infections Awareness Month. The Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR) offers resources to improve education on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and its crucial role in public health.

Check out the HPV Vaccine Social Media Toolkit today and follow the HPV vaccine conversation at #SWHRtalksHPV and on all SWHR social channels.

Infectious IDeas, a podcast series from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), brings leading experts together for thought-provoking conversations that lead to infectious ideas. The latest entry in the series, Breaking the Cycle of Crisis to Complacency, features Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH. A description from the web page appears below.

As the first female director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH, led the agency through 40 public health crises, including SARS-CoV-1. As CEO of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, she now advocates for change to strengthen US health security and break the cycle of crisis to complacency.

Immunize.org's laminated versions of the 2023 U.S. child and adolescent immunization schedule and the 2023 U.S. adult immunization schedule are in stock and shipping now. Order while supplies last. Once sold out, we will not print more until 2024.

While the schedules are available online from CDC at no cost, Immunize.org’s laminated schedules are ideal for use in any busy healthcare setting. Their tough coating can be wiped down, and they’re durable enough to stand up to a year of use.

• Length: Each schedule with appendices is 12 pages
• Size: Standard 8.5” X 11” booklet format
• Full Color: With color coding for easy reading, our laminated schedules replicate the original CDC formatting, including the essential tables and notes
• Bonus: The adult schedule includes Immunize.org’s popular 1-page handout summarizing the dose, route, and needle length recommendations for all vaccines and recipients

Pricing for Each Schedule
$10.00: 1 copy
$  9.50 each: 2–4 copies
$  8.50 each: 5–19 copies
$  7.50 each: 20–99 copies
$  6.00 each: 100–499 copies
$  5.00 each: 500–999 copies
$  4.00 each: 1,000–1,999 copies
$  3.25 each: 2,000+ copies

Visit Shop Immunize.org: Laminated Schedules to view images of each page and order today!

For additional information, call 651-647-9009 or email admininfo@immunize.org.

Related Links

• Immunize.org: Laminated Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedules (0–18 years) web page
• Immunize.org: Laminated Adult Immunization Schedules (19 and older) web page
• Immunize.org: Shop Immunize.org main page
• CDC: Immunization Schedules

CDC published Widespread Community Transmission of Hepatitis A Virus following an Outbreak at a Local Restaurant—Virginia, September 2021–September 2022 in the April 7 issue of MMWR. A portion of the summary appears below.

In 2021, a hepatitis A outbreak in Virginia traced to an unvaccinated food handler resulted in 51 cases, 31 hospitalizations, and three deaths. As of September 30, 2022, an additional 98 community hepatitis A cases had been reported in the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts. . . .

Public health partnerships with businesses and other community partners (e.g., harm reduction programs) might increase hepatitis A vaccination among persons at risk for this infection, while also reducing the stigmatization of hepatitis A-associated risk factors.

Access the MMWR article in HTML or PDF.

Related Link

• MMWR's main page provides access to MMWR Weekly and its companion publications

CDC published Seasonality of Respiratory Syncytial Virus—United States, 2017–2023 in the April 7 issue of MMWR.

The article explains that, nationally, prepandemic seasons (2017– 2020) began in October, peaked in December, and ended in April. During 2020–21, the typical winter RSV epidemic did not occur. The 2021–22 season began in May, peaked in July, and ended in January. The 2022–23 season started (June) and peaked (November) later than the 2021–22 season, but earlier than prepandemic seasons. In both prepandemic and pandemic periods, epidemics began earlier in Florida and the Southeast and later in regions further north and west.

With several RSV prevention products in development, ongoing monitoring of RSV circulation can guide the timing of RSV immunoprophylaxis and of clinical trials and postlicensure effectiveness studies. Although the timing of the 2022–23 season suggests that seasonal patterns are returning toward those observed in prepandemic years, clinicians should be aware that off-season RSV circulation might continue.



Access the MMWR article in HTML or PDF.

Related Link

• MMWR's main page provides access to MMWR Weekly and its companion publications

CDC published Update on Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus Outbreaks Worldwide—January 2021–December 2022 in the April 7 issue of MMWR. A portion of the summary appears below.

During January 2021–December 2022, 76 [circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses] cVDPV type 2 outbreaks occurred in 42 countries. Since 2020, the numbers of paralytic cases and new emergences have declined following the introduction of a safer novel type 2 oral poliovirus vaccine for outbreak control. The number of cVDPV type 1 outbreaks increased during 2021–2022 as COVID-19 pandemic–associated global routine immunization coverage declined. . . .

Improving routine immunization coverage, strengthening poliovirus surveillance, and conducting timely and high-quality supplementary immunization activity responses to cVDPV outbreaks in 2023 are necessary to stop cVDPV transmission.



Access the MMWR article in HTML or PDF.

Related Link

• MMWR's main page provides access to MMWR Weekly and its companion publications

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) will host its 2023 Annual Conference on Vaccinology Research (ACVR) on June 5–7. Learn and network with hundreds of researchers and healthcare professionals from around the world. The conference will feature informative presentations with interactive audience discussions, peer-reviewed oral and poster abstracts, and an inspiring session spotlighting women leaders in vaccinology.

Registration is now open and there is a $400 fee to attend. NFID will offer CME for the live activity. Visit the ACVR website for updates and additional information.