New! December 2016 issue of Needle Tips is now available online
The December 2016 issue of Needle Tips is now online.
Click on the image below to download the entire December issue of Needle Tips (22-page, 8.47 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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IAC offers 25% discount on record cards, DVDs, and books on Shop IAC through the end of the year!
As announced in the December 6 Special Edition of IAC Express, through the end of 2016, all items in Shop IAC are
25% off! All you need to do to get the 25% discount on your entire order is to
enter the coupon code “IAC25” into the Coupon Code box on the Cart Contents
page.
Check out Shop IAC to order record cards, handbooks, and more before 2016 ends!
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Influenza vaccination rates remain low, CDC reports
CDC has noted low influenza vaccination rates. A selection from CDC's press release, Flu vaccine coverage remains low this year, is reprinted below.
As of early November, only about 2 out of 5 people in the United States
reported having gotten this season’s flu vaccine, yet flu vaccine offered
substantial benefit last season by preventing an estimated 5 million flu
illnesses and 71,000 flu hospitalizations...
Flu vaccine coverage estimates based on survey data collected through early November 2016 show vaccination levels similar to this time last season. Forty percent of people overall reported having received a flu vaccine, including 37 percent of children ages 6 months to 17 years and 41 percent of adults ages 18 years and older.
Although flu vaccination estimates among adults and children are similar to early estimates from last season for all age groups, CDC is looking carefully at vaccination rates for children and for adults ages 50 years and older.
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CDC reports on influenza vaccination coverage during pregnancy
CDC published
Influenza Vaccination Coverage During Pregnancy—Selected Sites, United States,
2005–06 Through 2013–14 Influenza Vaccine Seasons in the December 9 issue of MMWR
(pages 1370–73). A summary made available to the press is reprinted below.
Since 2004, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended
seasonal influenza vaccination for women who will be pregnant during influenza
season. From 2005–06 to 2013–14, influenza vaccination in pregnant women in the
Birth Defects Study of the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University
increased from approximately 20% to 41%. Although 20% of vaccinations were
administered in non-traditional health care settings, the majority of doses are
given in physician offices. Routine management of pregnant women should
incorporate flu vaccine counseling and administration to prevent
influenza-associated morbidity and mortality among women and their infants.
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New CDC HPV toolkit available for partners, awardees, and state programs
CDC recently released HPV Vaccination Partner Toolkit. This toolkit provides resources for state and local organizations interested in enhancing HPV vaccination efforts at the clinician, patient, and partnership level. It includes a wide range of resources for all potential audiences.
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CDC launches new website for immunization partners
CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases launched a new resource website for immunization partners. The site includes childhood, adolescent, maternal, adult, and influenza immunization resources.
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Tenivac vaccine (Tetanus and Diphtheria Toxoids Adsorbed) is temporarily unavailable
On November 28, CDC posted the following note on its website about the current Tenivac shortage:
Tenivac vaccine (Tetanus and Diphtheria Toxoids Adsorbed) is temporarily unavailable. It is anticipated that the product will become available in the second half of 2017. Grifols, who markets and distributes another U.S.-licensed Td vaccine manufactured by MassBiologics and with labeled indications for the same use as Tenivac, has indicated that they have sufficient supply available to address the historical demand for Td vaccine during this time period.
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IAC HANDOUTS
IAC updates its staff education materials: "Current Dates of Vaccine Information Statements" and "It's Federal Law! You must give your patients current Vaccine Information Statements"
IAC recently revised Current Dates of Vaccine Information Statements as well as It's Federal Law! You must give your patients current Vaccine Information Statements to reflect the 12/2/2016 date of the new HPV VIS.
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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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CDC's vaccination coverage information is easily accessible on its VaxView websites
CDC's VaxView websites provide vaccination coverage data for several age groups. Local, state, and federal health departments use surveys and other data sources to estimate vaccination coverage and identify where additional efforts are needed to increase vaccination coverage. Data is available in five categories:
Influenza is spreading and serious; please keep vaccinating your patients
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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JOURNAL ARTICLES AND NEWSLETTERS
November issue of CDC's Immunization Works newsletter now available
CDC recently released the November issue of its monthly newsletter Immunization Works. The newsletter offers the immunization community information about current topics. The information is in the public domain and can be reproduced and circulated widely.
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EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Two HepB United webinars on hepatitis B treatment are archived online
Two recent HepB United webinars, "Current and Future HBV Treatment and Research Towards Finding a Cure" and "Why Clinical Trials for Hepatitis B Therapies Are So Important," have been archived and are
now available for viewing online.
HepB United is a national coalition to address and eliminate hepatitis B, a serious liver infection that is the leading cause of liver cancer.
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ASK THE EXPERTS
Question of the Week
My healthy 29-year-old son recently had a mild episode of herpes zoster. He has no underlying medical problems. He was treated with famcyclovir. Should he now get zoster vaccine?
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) does not recommend zoster vaccine for persons younger than 60 years of age regardless of their history of zoster. The currently available vaccine is licensed for persons 50 years and older. A clinician may choose to give the vaccine to a person younger than 50 years, but such use would be off-label.
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 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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