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Issue 1,574: June 23, 2021
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- IAC offers FREE “I Got My COVID-19 Vaccine” buttons and stickers to nonprofit and public
health organizations! Available in English and Spanish.
- IAC updates "Vaccines: COVID-19" web page with important new resources
- IAC’s L.J Tan and other leaders testify before U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and
Commerce about legislation to improve immunization access for adults
- “Saying Goodbye—and Leaving You with My ‘Top 10’ List of Places to Bookmark on
Immunize.org”; Dr. Wexler concludes 12 years writing the Technically Speaking column
- "COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage and Intent among Adults Aged 18–39 Years—United
States, March–May 2021" and "COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among Adults—United States, December 14, 2020–May
22, 2021" published in MMWR
- "COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among Pregnant Women during Pregnancy—Eight Integrated
Health Care Organizations, United States, December 14, 2020–May 8, 2021" published in MMWR
- CDC releases handout titled “Increasing Access to Vaccination Opportunities: COVID-19 Vaccination
upon Discharge from Hospitals, Emergency Departments, and Urgent Care Facilities”
- IAC Spotlight! IAC's ACIP gateway page on immunize.org provides links to both current and past ACIP
recommendations
- IAC experts called on by news media
- Not-to-miss immunization articles in the news
IAC Handouts
Featured Resources
Conferences and Meetings
Journal Articles and Newsletters
Immunization PSAs from the Archive
Top Stories
IAC offers FREE “I Got My
COVID-19 Vaccine” buttons and stickers to nonprofit and public health organizations! Available in English and
Spanish.
IAC, with support from CDC, is offering FREE “I Got My COVID-19 Vaccine” buttons and stickers to public health departments, nonprofit
organizations, and clinics that provide vaccination services in communities experiencing health disparities and vaccine hesitancy. Available in English and
Spanish, IAC's “I Got My COVID-19 Vaccine” buttons and stickers can be placed on lab coats, uniforms, jackets, lanyards, ID
badges, or backpacks to show your confidence in COVID-19 vaccination. Buttons and stickers in English also remain available
for sale to individuals and any organization ineligible for the CDC-funded supplies. Access the order form to request the FREE buttons and
stickers for your outreach efforts.
HHS’s We
Can Do This campaign, supported by the Made to Save Coalition, encourages us to redouble efforts to protect at least 70% of adults by
Independence Day. During this National Month of Action, initiatives include making it easier to get vaccinated against COVID-19, advancing equity, doing
more vaccine education, and encouraging vaccination of everyone in your community.
 
According to the CDC COVID Data Tracker, as of June 22, 169,225,128 U.S. adults at
least 18 years of age (65.5%) have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination.
Declare independence from COVID-19!
Commit to the National Vaccine
Month of Action: go to the Mobilize.us web page to locate events near you or add your own.
Related Links
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IAC updates "Vaccines: COVID-19" web page with important new
resources
Having trouble locating the latest information on COVID-19 vaccines? Check out the many resources recently added to IAC’s popular Vaccines: COVID-
19 web page. This comprehensive site offers a single location to facilitate access to key resources from CDC, FDA, IAC, and other critical
partners.
Newly added information on the web page includes links to:
- A guide for how to respond to COVID-19 vaccine administration errors
- CDC guidance on important clinical considerations for the use of COVID-19 vaccines, such as contraindications and precautions,
coadministration with other vaccines, and considerations for vaccinating people with immunocompromising conditions
- Expanded patient education materials for all authorized COVID-19 vaccines
- CDC’s science brief, explaining the science behind its recommendations
- Clinical care considerations for myocarditis, severe allergic reactions, and thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS)
- New resources from our partners, including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the American Pharmacists Association, and the
American Rural Health Association
To locate this gateway page on immunize.org, click on the bright yellow box in the top right corner of the page, or go to the light blue band of tabs across the top, and
choose "Vaccines." You also can use the Guide to immunize.org at the bottom of each web page.
Related Links
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IAC’s L.J Tan and other leaders testify before U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce about legislation to improve immunization access for adults
On June 15, witnesses representing a broad range of immunization expertise testified at a legislative hearing before the House Committee on Energy
and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health. The hearing, Booster
Shot: Enhancing Public Health through Vaccine Legislation, was held to discuss vaccination issues that have been heightened by the COVID-
19 pandemic. Witnesses addressed vaccination infrastructure modernization, maternal vaccination, vaccine equity, preventing HPV cancers through
vaccination, overcoming lack of transportation to vaccination sites, protecting seniors through vaccination, and more. The hearing witnesses, and
links to transcripts of their testimonies, are listed below.
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Litjen (L.J.) Tan, PhD,
chief strategy officer, Immunization Action Coalition
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Phyllis Arthur, vice
president, Infectious Diseases and Diagnostic Policy, Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)
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Rebecca Coyle,
executive director, American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA)
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Yvonne Maldonado,
MD, chair, Committee on Infectious Diseases, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP); professor, Pediatrics, Epidemiology, and Public Health,
Stanford University
Access the opening statements, proposed legislation, and video of the full committee hearing: Booster Shot: Enhancing Public Health through Vaccine Legislation.
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“Saying Goodbye—and Leaving You with My ‘Top 10’
List of Places to Bookmark on Immunize.org”; Dr. Wexler concludes 12 years writing the Technically Speaking
column
This week, IAC announces its final Technically Speaking column, written monthly by IAC's executive director, Deborah L. Wexler,
MD, for Vaccine Update, a monthly e-newsletter from the Vaccine Education Center (VEC) at Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Wexler’s Technically Speaking columns spanned the years 2010 through 2021, including more than 120
articles covering practical topics in immunization delivery such as administration techniques, storage and handling, contraindications and precautions,
and scheduling.
June's Technically Speaking column appears below.
Saying Goodbye—and Leaving You with My ‘Top 10’ List of Places to Bookmark on Immunize.org
by Deborah L. Wexler, MD
Farewell, readers. After 30 years as executive director of the
Immunization Action Coalition (IAC), I will be retiring at the end of June. I leave IAC in the best of hands. Our
deputy director, Dr. Kelly Moore, will be assuming the leadership of IAC on July 1.
On this occasion of my final column of
Technically Speaking, it seems the perfect time to give you a parting gift. With my deepest
appreciation for your dedication to immunization, here is my "Top Ten" list of favorite locations on IAC's website, www.immunize.org. These
locations just might become your favorites as well!
Background on www.immunize.org
IAC's website for healthcare professionals, www.immunize.org, was launched in 1995 as a pioneer immunization site on the World Wide Web. When you entered
the term "immunization" into "AltaVista," the internet search engine of the day, you would get 10 results. The Immunization Action
Coalition was one of them. My, how things have changed! Twenty-six years later, immunize.org remains in the top 10 Google "immunization"
search results—but has been joined by more than 400 million other listings. Today, immunize.org is the nation's premier nonprofit
immunization website for healthcare professionals, averaging 30,000 visits each day with visitors from nearly 200 countries each month. The IAC
educational materials available on immunize.org have 3.5 million downloads per year.
My "Top Ten" list on www.immunize.org
Over the past 26 years, I have guided the content of immunize.org based on my experiences working in clinics and community-based immunization sites following the measles
epidemic of 1989–1990. IAC has also received invaluable content suggestions from public health and private sector providers. Based on this
experience, here are my "Top Ten" favorite places to know about and bookmark on immunize.org.
- IAC Home Page at
www.immunize.org – This is your gateway to the wealth of information found on IAC's website. A couple of ways to find
what you're looking for include the "Favorites" tab located on the upper left corner of the page and the index at the bottom of every page.
Not finding what you need? Just enter your search term in the Google search box. In short, this page is your key to unlocking IAC's treasure trove of
practical and up-to-date immunization information.
- IAC Express at www.immunize.org/express – Every week, IAC Express keeps 53,000 healthcare professionals informed about new
and updated CDC recommendations, vaccine licensures, VISs and their translations, and educational materials from IAC, CDC, and others. If
you're not yet on our email list, be sure to subscribe today at www.immunize.org/subscribe.
- Vaccine Information Statements (VISs) at www.immunize.org/vis – Find all of CDC's VISs in English, as well as translations of
these important documents in up to 40 languages.
- Handouts (ready-to-print) at
www.immunize.org/handouts – View and download more than 300 of IAC's immunization
education materials for clinic staff and patients. Search by topic, vaccine, or language. View the
alphabetical listing of all IAC print materials on
one page.
- Ask the Experts at www.immunize.org/askexperts – A hands-down favorite of our visitors! Read IAC experts' practical answers to
more than 1,000 technical questions about vaccines, their administration, storage and handling, and more.
- ACIP Recommendations at www.immunize.org/acip – Access links to all of CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
recommendations dating back to 1991. These may be viewed in either PDF or HTML format.
- Package Inserts at www.immunize.org/fda – Access links to package inserts for all U.S.-licensed vaccines, as well as prescribing
information for vaccines with Emergency Use Authorization status.
- Clinic Tools at
www.immunize.org/clinic – Find key resources from IAC, CDC, and other immunization organizations to help with vaccine
administration, storage and handling, contraindication screening, and much more.
- Standing Orders Templates at www.immunize.org/standing-orders – Use these templates to help expedite vaccination for
children, teens, or adults. You may use them "as is" or modify them to suit the needs of your work setting. The page also includes links to
CDC's standing orders for COVID-19 vaccines.
- COVID-19 Vaccines at www.immunize.org/covid-19 – This web page facilitates access to key COVID-19 vaccine resources from CDC
and other partners.
So, there it is. I hope you find my "Top Ten" list helpful in your work. Thank you for letting me be part of your world via the Vaccine
Update for Healthcare Professionals since 2010. And know that IAC will remain your committed partner in immunization education and delivery for
many years to come.
Access the complete article here.
All past columns are available on IAC’s
Technically Speaking gateway page at www.immunize.org/technically-speaking.
To subscribe to VEC's
Vaccine Update e-newsletter,
go to the
sign-up form.
For those readers who may have missed our earlier article, IAC celebrates Deborah’s extraordinary legacy of immunization
advocacy in our IAC Express Special Edition, Never a Dull Moment: A Celebration of the Legacy of Deborah L. Wexler, MD
(published June 1).
 
Deborah loves to hear from our readers! If you wish to send Deborah a personal note, you may email IAC at admininfo@immunize.org, noting
“Retirement” in the subject line. Those who prefer to honor Deborah’s career with a donation are invited to contribute to either her
specially selected project to preserve and record the history of IAC or to IAC’s general fund, to help ensure that the important work of the
organization she founded continues long into the future. Both options are available on the Support IAC page.
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"COVID-19 Vaccination
Coverage and Intent among Adults Aged 18–39 Years—United States, March–May 2021" and "COVID-19 Vaccination
Coverage among Adults—United States, December 14, 2020–May 22, 2021" published in
MMWR
CDC published COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage and Intent among Adults Aged 18–39 Years—United States, March–May
2021 and COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among Adults—United States, December 14, 2020–May 22, 2021
on June 21 as an MMWR Early Release. A portion of the summaries appear below.
...Overall, 34% of adults aged 18–39 years reported having received a COVID-19 vaccine. Adults aged 18–24 years, as well as non-
Hispanic Black adults and those with less education, no insurance, and lower household incomes, had the lowest reported vaccination coverage and intent
to get vaccinated. Concerns about vaccine safety and effectiveness were commonly cited barriers to vaccination.
...By May 22, 2021, 57.0% of U.S. adults aged ≥18 years had received ≥1 vaccine dose; coverage was lower and increased more slowly over time
among younger adults. If the current rate of vaccination continues through August, coverage among young adults will remain substantially lower than
among older adults.
Access the MMWR articles:
- COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage and Intent among Adults Aged 18–39 Years—United States, March–May 2021
(HTML format and PDF format)
- COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among Adults—United States, December 14, 2020–May 22, 2021 (HTML format and PDF format)
Related Link
- MMWR gateway page provides access to MMWR Weekly, MMWR Recommendations and
Reports, MMWR Surveillance Summaries, and MMWR Supplements
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"COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among
Pregnant Women during Pregnancy—Eight Integrated Health Care Organizations, United States, December 14, 2020–May 8, 2021"
published in MMWR
CDC published COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among Pregnant Women during Pregnancy—Eight Integrated Health Care
Organizations, United States, December 14, 2020–May 8, 2021 in the June 18 issue of MMWR. A portion of the
summary appears below.
...As of May 8, 2021, 16.3% of pregnant women identified in CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink had received ≥1 dose of a COVID-19
vaccine during pregnancy in the United States. Vaccination was lowest among Hispanic (11.9%) and non-Hispanic Black women (6.0%) and women aged
18–24 years (5.5%) and highest among non-Hispanic Asian women (24.7%) and women aged 35–49 years (22.7%).
...Improving outreach to and engagement with health care providers and pregnant women, especially those who are younger and from racial and ethnic
minority groups, could increase vaccine confidence and thus coverage of COVID-19 vaccination in this population.
Access the MMWR article in HTML format or in PDF format.
Related Link
- MMWR gateway page provides access to MMWR Weekly, MMWR Recommendations and
Reports, MMWR Surveillance Summaries, and MMWR Supplements
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CDC releases handout titled “Increasing Access to Vaccination Opportunities: COVID-19 Vaccination upon
Discharge from Hospitals, Emergency Departments, and Urgent Care Facilities”
CDC published a handout titled
Increasing Access to Vaccination Opportunities: COVID-19 Vaccination upon
Discharge from Hospitals, Emergency Departments, and Urgent Care Facilities.
To promote access to COVID-19 vaccination, jurisdictions are encouraged to administer vaccinations at discharge to patients in hospitals, emergency
departments (EDs) and in urgent care facilities (UCs). Hospital, ED, and UC facilities in the United States can play an influential role in building
confidence and improving COVID-19 vaccine uptake, as healthcare providers are the most trusted source of health information.
Related Links
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IAC Spotlight! IAC's ACIP gateway page on immunize.org provides links to
both current and past ACIP recommendations
The ACIP gateway
page on immunize.org provides links to all current ACIP vaccine recommendations as well as to most guidance documents dating back to 1991. You
can access the ACIP recommendations in two ways: sorted alphabetically by diseases and vaccines or chronologically by date of publication.
View the ACIP
recommendations in the Vaccine Index, where they are sorted alphabetically by vaccine.
View the ACIP
recommendations chronologically if you are interested in seeing recommendations by date, divided into two web pages:
Visit the ACIP
gateway page on immunize.org,
where you will access the information and resources you need related to ACIP recommendations.
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IAC experts called on by news
media
Journalists seek out IAC experts to help explain vaccines to the public and policy makers. Our goal is to help the media understand and communicate
the complex work vaccinators do. Here is a selection of our recent citations.
Related Link
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Not-to-miss immunization articles in the news
These recent articles convey the potential risks of vaccine-preventable diseases and the importance of vaccination.
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IAC Handouts
IAC updates its popular standing orders for administering zoster vaccine to adults
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Featured Resources
Encourage friends to get vaccinated by adding
IAC’s “I Got My COVID-19 Vaccine” Facebook profile photo frame! Available in English and Spanish.
Share your excitement about COVID-19 vaccination and inspire your friends! When you have received your COVID-19 vaccine, add IAC's new
"I Got My COVID-19 Vaccine" Facebook photo frame to liven up your profile picture!
You can obtain the frame in three ways:
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“Shop IAC” on
immunize.org offers many resources: wallet-sized record cards, "Vaccines Save Lives" pins, flu and COVID-19 buttons and stickers, and
laminated child/adolescent schedules. Order today!
On the Shop
IAC web page, you will find many resources such as laminated vaccination schedules, personal immunization record cards, pins for your
lapel, and more! Your purchases will help IAC keep delivering free educational materials to healthcare professionals and to the public.
IAC's laminated version of the 2021 U.S. child/adolescent immunization schedule is ideal for use in any busy healthcare setting where
vaccinations are given. The 2021 U.S. adult immunization schedule has sold out, but you can print paper versions
from the CDC website.
The schedules' coating can be wiped down, and they’re durable enough to stand up to a year's worth of use. Visit the Shop
IAC: Laminated Schedules web page for more information on the schedules.
IAC’s three personal immunization record cards—child & teen, adult, and lifetime—are printed on durable rip-, smudge-, and
water-proof paper. Sized to fit in a wallet when folded, the cards are brightly colored to stand out. Give these nearly indestructible personal record cards to
your patients. They're sold in boxes of 250.
You too can show your support for vaccination with IAC’s elegantly designed “Vaccines Save Lives” pin on your lapel. The pin makes a
refined statement in hard black enamel with gold lettering and edges, measuring 1.125" x 0.75”. Order yours today to show how much you
value immunizations!
Proudly wearing IAC’s "I Got My COVID-19 Vaccine" buttons demonstrates your support for COVID-19 vaccination
and reminds those around you to protect themselves from COVID-19.
Flu season is right around the corner and IAC's “FLU VACCINE” buttons and stickers are ready to ship! Their
bright red color helps broadcast your important message about the value of flu vaccination. And the cost is nominal.
Related Links
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Conferences and Meetings
Watch the virtual ACIP meeting June 23–25; no registration is required
The emergency meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on myocarditis after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination scheduled for June
18 was deferred, due to the new Juneteenth federal holiday.
The previously scheduled live, virtual meeting of the ACIP will be held June 23–25. The agenda is posted and includes discussions on COVID-19, dengue, influenza, rabies, zoster, and
pneumococcal vaccines. Discussion of tickborne encephalitis, hepatitis, cholera, and orthopoxvirus vaccines will be deferred to future
meetings. No registration is required to watch the live ACIP meeting or listen via telephone. Opportunities for public comment are described at the
website.
Bookmark
this link to watch this and future virtual ACIP meetings.
Related Link
- ACIP
gateway page for recordings and content from previous meetings, as well as information about future meetings
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Journal Articles and Newsletters
CHOP's Vaccine Education Center publishes June issue of Vaccine Update newsletter
The Vaccine Education Center (VEC) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) publishes a
monthly immunization-focused newsletter titled Vaccine Update. The
June issue includes the following articles:
Additional resources, including information booklets for patients, are available in the full newsletter.
Access the sign-up form to subscribe to Vaccine Update.
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Immunization PSAs from the Archive
In this adorable 1996 PSA from the Scottish Rite Children’s Medical Center in Georgia, a young “Evander
Holyfield” knocks out vaccine-preventable diseases
In this 1996 public service announcement (PSA) from the Scottish Rite Children’s Medical Center in Georgia, a boxing toddler and
narrator Evander Holyfield remind us to give children a bright future by getting them fully vaccinated. This PSA is part of a collection curated by vaccine
expert William L. Atkinson, MD, MPH, which spans a period of more than 50 years.
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