Issue 1236: March 23, 2016
Ask the Experts—Question of the Week: Does an adult younger than age 65 years with beta thalassemia minor…read more
TOP STORIES
IAC HANDOUTS
OFFICIAL RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
WORLD NEWS
FEATURED RESOURCES
JOURNAL ARTICLES AND NEWSLETTERS
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS
TOP STORIES
New! March 2016 issue of Vaccinate Adults is available online
The March 2016 issue of Vaccinate Adults is now online. Vaccinate Adults is an abbreviated version of Needle Tips with the pediatric content removed.
Click on the image below to download the entire March issue of Vaccinate Adults (12-page, 5.93 MB PDF).
Access the Table of Contents to download individual sections or pages.
This issue features a review of CDC pneumococcal recommendations for adults starting at age 65, as well as a range of other adult vaccination topics. You’ll find new and updated vaccination resources for patients and staff, including standing orders templates, screening checklists, administration guides, and other ready-to-copy educational materials.
Also featured is the ever-popular column "Ask the Experts" from CDC medical officer Andrew T. Kroger, MD, MPH, and nurse educator Donna L. Weaver, RN, MN, both with the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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If you would like to receive immediate email notification whenever new issues of Needle Tips or Vaccinate Adults are released, visit our Subscribe to IAC page to sign up.
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Reminder: March 2016 issue of Needle Tips is available online
The March 2016 issue of Needle Tips is now online.
Click on the image below to download the entire March issue of Needle Tips (16-page, 9.95 MB PDF).
Access the Table of Contents (HTML) to download individual sections or pages.
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If you would like to receive immediate email notification whenever new issues of Needle Tips or Vaccinate Adults are released, visit our Subscribe to IAC page to sign up.
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Now available! IAC's sturdy laminated versions of the 2016 U.S. child/teen immunization schedule and the 2016 U.S. adult immunization schedule—order a supply for your healthcare setting today!
IAC's laminated versions of the 2016 U.S. child/teen immunization schedule and the 2016 U.S. adult immunization schedule are covered with a tough, washable coating; they will stand up to a year's worth of use in every area of your healthcare setting where immunizations are given. Both schedules are eight pages (i.e., four double-sided pages) and are folded to measure 8.5" x 11".
Laminated schedules are printed in color for easy reading, come complete with essential tables and footnotes, and include contraindications and precautions—a feature that will help you make an on-the-spot determination about the safety of vaccinating patients of any age.
PRICING
1–4 copies: $7.50 each
5–19 copies: $5.50 each
20–99 copies: $4.50 each
100–499 copies: $4.00 each
500–999 copies: $3.50 each
For quotes on customizing or placing orders for 1,000 copies or more, call (651) 647-9009 or email admininfo@immunize.org.
You can access specific information on both schedules, view images of both, order online, or download an order form at the Shop IAC: Laminated Schedules web page.
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Dr. Nancy Messonnier is named new director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
Nancy Messonnier, MD, recently accepted the position as director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. A related announcement from Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, CDC director, is reprinted below.
I am pleased to announce that Dr. Nancy Messonnier (CAPT, USPHS) has accepted the position of director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). Nancy has served as NCIRD deputy director since October 2014, helping lead the Center through various high-profile challenges including the 2015 U.S. measles outbreak, ongoing domestic and global respiratory disease outbreaks, Global Health Security Agenda activities, implementation of Ebola vaccine trials, and the latest actions toward polio eradication.
Nancy received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and MD from the University of Chicago School of Medicine, and completed internal medicine residency training at the University of Pennsylvania. She joined CDC in 1995 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer in the Childhood and Respiratory Diseases Branch, Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases. Following EIS, she joined the division’s Meningitis and Special Pathogens Branch, where she held ongoing leadership positions, becoming branch chief in 2005 and continuing as chief of the Meningitis and Vaccine-Preventable Disease Branch in NCIRD from the Center’s formation in 2006 through 2012. Additional leadership positions since 2012 include interim director of the Advanced Molecular Detection Implementation team in the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases (NCEZID), acting deputy director of the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services (CSELS), and acting director of the Division of Global Health Protection in the Center for Global Health.
Nancy has played critical roles in many efforts to reduce vaccine-preventable diseases, including the highly successful public-private partnership to develop and implement a low-cost vaccine (MenAfriNet) to prevent epidemic meningococcal meningitis in Africa. She has also worked tirelessly to prevent and control bacterial meningitis in the United States, including drafting the initial recommendations for use of meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine in young adults heading for college. She also oversaw a family of studies exploring the US resurgence of pertussis and characterizing post-licensure effectiveness of acellular pertussis vaccines. A well-recognized expert in Bacillus anthracis, Nancy served in leadership roles during the public health response to the 2001 intentional anthrax release, has served as co-leader of the anthrax management team and vaccine working group, and served as incident commander as part of the agency’s response to the 2014 CDC anthrax laboratory incident.
I would also like to thank CDC Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases and Director of the Office of Infectious Diseases, Rima Khabbaz, PhD, for her outstanding leadership of NCIRD over the last 6 months during our search for a new permanent NCIRD director. Nancy will begin her new position on April 4. Please join me in supporting her in this new role and in thanking Rima for her dedication and many contributions.
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CDC publishes ACIP recommendations for use of vaccinia virus smallpox vaccine in laboratory and healthcare personnel
CDC published Use of Vaccinia Virus Smallpox Vaccine in Laboratory and Health Care Personnel at Risk for Occupational Exposure to Orthopoxviruses—Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2015 in the March 18 issue of MMWR (pages 257–262). A summary made available to the press is reprinted below.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends routine vaccination with live smallpox (vaccinia) vaccine (ACAM2000) for laboratory personnel who directly handle: 1) cultures or 2) animals contaminated or infected with replication-competent vaccinia virus, recombinant vaccinia viruses derived from replication-competent vaccinia strains (i.e., those that are capable of causing clinical infection and producing infectious virus in humans), or other orthopoxviruses that infect humans (e.g., monkeypox, cowpox, and variola) (recommendation category: A, evidence type 2). Health-care personnel (e.g., physicians and nurses) who currently treat or anticipate treating patients with vaccinia virus infections and whose contact with replication-competent vaccinia viruses is limited to contaminated materials (e.g., dressings) and persons administering ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine who adhere to appropriate infection prevention measures can be offered vaccination with ACAM2000 (recommendation category: B, evidence type 2).
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JAMA publishes article on the association between vaccine refusal and vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States
On March 15, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published Association Between Vaccine Refusal and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in the United States: A Review of Measles and Pertussis online. The last section of the abstract is reprinted below.
Conclusions and Relevance
A substantial proportion of the US measles cases in the era after elimination were intentionally unvaccinated. The phenomenon of vaccine refusal was associated with an increased risk for measles among people who refuse vaccines and among fully vaccinated individuals. Although pertussis resurgence has been attributed to waning immunity and other factors, vaccine refusal was still associated with an increased risk for pertussis in some populations.
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IAC enrolls one new birthing institution into its Hepatitis B Birth Dose Honor Roll; four previously honored institutions qualify for a third time
The Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) is pleased to announce that one new institution has been accepted into its Hepatitis B Birth Dose Honor Roll. The birthing institution is listed below with its reported hepatitis B birth dose coverage rates in parentheses.
- Northern Montana Hospital, Havre, MT (97%)
In addition, the following four institutions are being recognized for a third year:
- Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center, La Junta, CO (95%)
- Hillsdale Hospital, Hillsdale, MI (94%)
- Hospital Bella Vista, Mayaguez, PR (96%)
- Olney Hamilton Hospital, Olney, TX (96%)
The Honor Roll now includes 227 birthing institutions from 34 states and Puerto Rico. Sixty-five institutions have qualified for two years and eleven institutions have qualified three 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.
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IAC’s “Take a Stand™” workshops are highly successful across the nation: Register NOW for a session in Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, or Atlanta in April
The Immunization Action Coalition (IAC), with support from Pfizer, has implemented Take a Stand™, a national effort designed to improve adult immunization rates by increasing the use of standing orders in medical practices.*
At the core of this project are free workshops led by national experts, including L.J Tan, MS, PhD; William Atkinson, MD, MPH; and Deborah Wexler, MD, from IAC, and Alexandra Stewart, JD, from George Washington University. These workshops already have been conducted in Louisville, KY; Chicago, IL; Portsmouth, VA; Nashville, TN; Little Rock, AR; San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego, CA; Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Houston, TX; Seattle, WA; and Phoenix and Tucson, AZ. To illustrate how these have been going, here is a small sampling of comments received from attendees:
"The workshop was over and beyond what I expected...I recommend these workshops to anyone involved in immunizations." H.A.C.H., RN (California)
"Our workshop was…led by a deep field of nationally ranked authorities who literally wrote the book on vaccine-preventable diseases. Everyone was very knowledgeable, down to earth, and friendly. A well-paced, informal workshop with great audience participation. This is everything you need if starting from square one to implement standing orders for vaccines." S.P, MD (Pasadena, CA)
"As a new manager and nursing supervisor, this workshop was instrumental in helping me understand setting up standing orders and implementation." T.B., BSN, MSN, APN, CNS, nursing supervisor (San Diego, CA)
"The information in this workshop was very timely. Increasing access to adult vaccination is challenging. These standing orders greatly simplify the process for clinicians." J.D., PharmD, pharmacist (Sacramento, CA)
"The workshop was informative and made me feel motivated and ready to implement strategies to improve on our delivery service." M.M.G., clinic supervisor (San Antonio, TX)
"The Take A Stand workshop will prepare you with everything you need to implement standing orders for vaccination and overcome any barriers that previously stood in your way." G.B.K, RN, (Houston, TX)
Don’t miss your chance to join these satisfied attendees. The next workshops are scheduled in the following three cities:
Be sure to note that these are one-time-only events in each city.
Who should attend? Clinicians, nurses, and practice managers in medical offices that serve adults, as well as pharmacists and quality improvement managers, will benefit from the workshops.
In addition to the Florida and Georgia sessions, other workshop locations and schedules, a sample agenda, and online registration are available on the Take a Stand™ website at www.standingorders.org.
Please “take a stand” with us and spread the word about this unique opportunity for medical practices to improve their adult immunization rates while empowering staff and streamlining facility operations.
* Standing orders are written protocols approved by a physician or other authorized practitioner that allow qualified healthcare professionals (who are eligible to do so under state law, such as registered nurses or pharmacists) to assess the need for vaccination and to vaccinate patients meeting certain criteria.
Workshop Information
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Please help AAP by completing a quick online survey about vaccine 2D barcoding
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been asked by CDC to survey primary care office personnel about their beliefs regarding vaccine 2D barcode use in the vaccination process.
Your input will help shape future guidance, tools, and resources related to vaccine 2D barcoding. Your participation is confidential; no identifying information beyond the state in which you work will be collected. Participation is completely voluntary and you are able to withdraw at any time.
AAP would like the person who knows the most about the office policies and procedures for vaccination to answer the questions. The online survey will take about 15 minutes to complete. No incentive is offered for completion of this 15-minute online survey.
The link to the online survey is https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AAP2Dbarcoding. The survey link will close on April 8, 2016
Please contact Jill Hernandez if you have questions by email or phone at (800) 433-9016 x4270.
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CDC corrects Spanish-language version of its 2016 easy-to-read childhood immunization schedule
CDC has corrected the Spanish-language version of its easy-to-read "2016 Recommended Immunizations for Children from Birth Through 6 Years Old" schedule for parents. The original translation was missing some characters.
Access the corrected version: 2016 Vacunas recomendadas para niños, desde el nacimiento hasta los 6 años de edad
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Reminder: IAC's 84-page HepB birth dose guidebook Hepatitis B: What Hospitals Need to Do to Protect Newborns is now available in hard copy for purchase
In July 2013, the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) launched a major initiative urging the nation’s hospitals to Give birth to the end of Hep B. As part of this project, IAC developed a comprehensive guidebook for helping hospitals and birthing centers establish, implement, and optimize their birth dose policies. Hepatitis B: What Hospitals Need to Do to Protect Newborns was reviewed by the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatricians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and CDC, and is a complete policy and best practices guide for newborn hepatitis B immunization.
The guide has always been available for downloading from IAC's website, but now, for the first time, you can order a beautiful hard copy of this 84-page resource for $20 plus shipping. Discounts are available for those ordering in bulk.
Check out the Shop IAC: Hepatitis B: What Hospitals Need to Do to Protect Newborns page on IAC's website for more information on ordering this valuable resource.
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IAC HANDOUTS
IAC updates and renames its checklist for contraindications and precautions for teen vaccination to include MenB
IAC recently revised its screening questionnaire for teens to include information about meningococcal serogroup B vaccination. Formerly titled "Screening Checklist for Contraindications to HPV, MCV4, and Tdap Vaccines for Teens," the updated handout is now titled Screening Checklist for Contraindications to HPV, MenACWY, MenB, and Tdap Vaccines for Teens.
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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OFFICIAL RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
National Institutes of Health reports on successful trial of an experimental dengue vaccine
On March 16, the National Institutes of Health provided a news release to the press with the headline "Experimental dengue vaccine protects all recipients in virus challenge study." The first paragraph is reprinted below.
A clinical trial in which volunteers were infected with dengue virus six months after receiving either an experimental dengue vaccine developed by scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or a placebo injection yielded starkly contrasting results. All 21 volunteers who received the vaccine, TV003, were protected from infection, while all 20 placebo recipients developed infection. The study, published in Science Translational Medicine, underscores the importance of human challenge studies, in which volunteers are exposed to disease-causing pathogens under carefully controlled conditions.
Additional information about the dengue virus challenge trial is available at ClinicalTrials.gov using the identifier NCT02021968.
Access the complete press release: Experimental dengue vaccine protects all recipients in virus challenge study
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WORLD NEWS
WHO reports on characteristics and development of candidate vaccine viruses for pandemic preparedness
The March 18 issue of the WHO periodical Weekly Epidemiological Record includes an article titled Zoonotic influenza viruses: antigenic and genetic characteristics and development of candidate vaccine viruses for pandemic preparedness. One of the introductory paragraphs is reprinted below.
This report summarizes the genetic and antigenic characteristics of recently characterized zoonotic influenza viruses and related viruses circulating in animals that are relevant for CVV [candidate influenza vaccine viruses] updates. Institutions interested in receiving these CVVs should contact WHO at gisrs-whohq@who.int or the institutions listed in announcements published on the WHO website.
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Influenza is spreading and serious; please keep vaccinating your patients
According to the most recent week's FluView report from CDC, influenza activity remained elevated in the United States. Flu activity most often peaks in February and can last into May. The vast majority of circulating influenza viruses analyzed this season remain similar to the vaccine virus components for this season's influenza vaccines.
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. Influenza antiviral drugs can treat influenza illness. CDC has issued guidance for clinicians on the use of antiviral treatment in the 2015–16 flu season. Early antiviral treatment works best.
Following is a list of resources related to influenza disease and vaccination for healthcare professionals and the public:
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The Vaccine Handbook: A Practical Guide for Clinicians, a.k.a. "The Purple Book," by Dr. Gary Marshall available for purchase from IAC
The Vaccine Handbook: A Practical Guide for Clinicians (“The Purple Book,” 2015, 560 pages) is a uniquely comprehensive source of practical, up-to-date information for vaccine providers and educators. Its author, Gary S. Marshall, MD, has drawn together the latest vaccine science and guidance into a concise, user-friendly, practical resource for the private office, public health clinic, academic medical center, and hospital.
IAC Executive Director Deborah Wexler, MD, is enthusiastic about helping get this book circulated as widely as possible. “During more than 20 years in the field of immunization education, I have not seen a book that is so brimming with state-of-the-science vaccine information,” she states. "This book belongs in the hands of every medical student, physician-in-training, doctor, nursing student, and nurse who provides vaccines to patients.”
The Vaccine Handbook provides:
- Information on every licensed vaccine in the United States
- Rationale behind authoritative vaccine recommendations
- Contingencies encountered in everyday practice
- A chapter dedicated to addressing vaccine concerns
- Background on how vaccine policy is made
- Standards and regulations
- Office logistics, including billing procedures, and much more
About the Author
Gary Marshall, MD, is professor of pediatrics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky, where he serves as chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases and director of the Pediatric Clinical Trials Unit. In addition to being a busy clinician, he is nationally known for his work in the areas of vaccine research, advocacy, and education.
The newly released fifth edition of this invaluable guide is now available on IAC’s website at www.immunize.org/vaccine-handbook.
The price of the handbook is $29.95 each, plus shipping charges. Discount pricing is available for more than 10 copies. Order copies for your staff or for distribution at an upcoming conference.
Quantity Discount Pricing
- 1–10 books: no discount + shipping
- 11–50 books: 5% + shipping
- 51–100 books: 10% + shipping
- 101–500 books: 15% + shipping
- 501–1000 books: 20% + shipping
For quotes on larger quantities, email admininfo@immunize.org.
Order your copy today!
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JOURNAL ARTICLES AND NEWSLETTERS
CDC reports on human rabies case in Missouri
CDC published Human Rabies—Missouri, 2014 in the March 18 issue of MMWR (pages 253–256). The first sentences of the article and a press summary are both reprinted below.
On September 18, 2014, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS) was notified of a suspected rabies case in a Missouri resident. The patient, a man aged 52 years, lived in a rural, deeply wooded area, and bat sightings in and around his home were anecdotally reported. Exposure to bats poses a risk for rabies. After two emergency department visits for severe neck pain, paresthesia in the left arm, upper body tremors, and anxiety, he was hospitalized on September 13 for encephalitis of unknown etiology. On September 24, he received a diagnosis of rabies and on September 26, he died....
It is important for clinicians to have a high index of suspicion for rabies when presented with rapidly progressive encephalitis cases of unknown etiology, regardless of the existence or absence of an accompanying animal exposure. Public health officials should include the following key messages in rabies prevention education campaigns: 1) continue to warn the public about the risk associated with undetected bat exposures, and: 2) encourage caregivers and family members of case-patients with rapidly progressive encephalitis to notify the medical team caring for the patient of any possible animal exposures. Lastly, we must underscore the importance of the use of standard precautions, or higher level precautions, based on the differential diagnosis list when caring for patients with clinical diseases of unknown infectious disease etiologies.
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New study supports the recommendation to vaccinate surgical inpatients against influenza
On March 15, the Annals of Internal Medicine published Safety of Seasonal Influenza Vaccination in Hospitalized Surgical Patients: A Cohort Study online. The abstract is reprinted below.
Background
Despite recommendations to vaccinate surgical inpatients against influenza, vaccination rates remain low in this population, due in part to concerns about potential negative effects on postsurgical care.
Objective
To evaluate whether influenza vaccination in the perioperative period increases health care utilization and evaluations for postsurgical infection after discharge.
Design
Retrospective cohort study.
Setting
Members of Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
Participants
Patients aged 6 months or older who had inpatient surgery with admission and discharge between 1 September and 31 March from 2010 to 2013.
Measurements
All influenza vaccinations administered between 1 August and 30 April in the 2010–2011, 2011–2012, and 2012–2013 influenza seasons. Outcomes included rates of outpatient visits, readmission, emergency department (ED) visits, fever (temperature ≥38.0 °C), and clinical laboratory evaluations for infection (urine culture, complete blood count, blood culture, and wound culture) in the 7 days after discharge.
Results
Of the 42,777 surgeries included in adjusted analyses, vaccine was administered during hospitalization in 6,420. No differences were detected between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups in risk for inpatient visits (rate ratio [RR], 1.12 [95% CI, 0.96 to 1.32]), ED visits (RR, 1.07 [CI, 0.96 to 1.20]), postdischarge fever (RR, 1.00 [CI, 0.76 to 1.31]), or clinical evaluations for infection (RR, 1.06 [CI, 0.99 to 1.13]). A marginal increase in risk for outpatient visits (RR, 1.05 [CI, 1.00 to 1.10]; P = 0.032) was found.
Limitation
The study did not distinguish between planned and unplanned readmissions or outpatient visits.
Conclusion
No strong evidence of increased risk for adverse outcomes was found in comparisons of patients who received influenza vaccine during a surgical hospitalization and those who did not. The data support the recommendation to vaccinate surgical inpatients against influenza.
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EDUCATION AND TRAINING
CDC updates its "You Call the Shots" module on hepatitis B; free CE credit available
CDC recently updated the Hepatitis B module of its web-based training course You Call the Shots. The nurse education training program has 11 modules on a variety of immunization topics (e.g., DTaP, Hepatitis A, Influenza, Vaccine Storage and Handling, Vaccines For Children). Continuing education credit is available for viewing a module and completing an evaluation. The training course is supported by CDC through a cooperative agreement with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research.
The Hepatitis B module was updated in March. Participants can access information about obtaining CE credit from the You Call the Shots main page.
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NFID to offer webinars on vaccines for immunocompromised adults, shingles vaccines, and travel vaccines
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) will be offering the following three webinars in the upcoming months:
Vaccines for Immunocompromised Adults
April 5, 12:00 p.m. (ET)
Lorry G. Rubin, MD, director, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York, and professor of Pediatrics at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, will discuss recommended vaccines for immunocompromised adults.
Access registration information.
Shingles Vaccines: What You Need to Know
May 3, 12:00 p.m. (ET)
Kenneth E. Schmader, MD, professor of Medicine and chief, Division of Geriatrics at Duke University Medical School, and director, Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center at the Durham VA Medical Center, will discuss the importance of shingles vaccination in older adults.
Access registration information.
Travel Vaccines: Know Before You Go
June 1, 12:00 p.m. (ET)
Wilbur H. Chen, MD, MS, director, University of Maryland Traveler's Health Clinic at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will discuss the importance of travel vaccines. The presentation will cover important travel vaccines before the busy summer travel season begins and will focus on communication, timing, and vaccines recommended based on specific travelers to specific destinations.
Access registration information.
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CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS
Reminder: the National Conference for Immunization Coalitions and Partnerships is coming up in May
The 12th National Conference for Immunization Coalitions and Partnerships, Ready. Set. Vaccinate!, will be held in Indianapolis on May 25–27. The purpose of this conference is to discuss issues currently facing immunization-focused organizations and to consider solutions to these issues. After the conference, attendees will be able to speak more fluently on immunization topics and will leave the conference with practical projects that can be implemented on any budget to increase immunization rates and awareness.
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ASK THE EXPERTS
Question of the Week
Does an adult younger than age 65 years with beta thalassemia minor meet the criteria for a recommendation for vaccination with PCV13?
No. Beta thalassemia minor is a hemoglobinopathy, but compared to sickle cell disease, these patients have less risk for functional asplenia, and by extension a reduced risk for invasive pneumococcal disease.
About IAC's Question of the Week
Each week, IAC Express highlights a new, topical, or important-to-reiterate Q&A. This feature is a cooperative venture between IAC and CDC. William L. Atkinson, MD, MPH, IAC's associate director for immunization education, chooses a new Q&A to feature every week from a set of Q&As prepared by experts at CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
We hope you enjoy this new feature and find it helpful when dealing with difficult real-life scenarios in your vaccination practice. Please encourage your healthcare professional colleagues to sign up to receive IAC Express at www.immunize.org/subscribe.
If you have a question for the CDC immunization experts, you can email them directly at nipinfo@cdc.gov. There is no charge for this service.
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