Top Stories
Tomorrow, July 13! Don’t miss Immunize.org’s webinar “Hepatitis B-Gone! Implementing universal adult screening and vaccination. Your practical questions answered.” In 2022, CDC recommended catch-up hepatitis B vaccination of all adults through age 59 years and older adults with risk factors or who want to be vaccinated. In 2023, CDC recommended one-time hepatitis B infection screening of all adults. Integrating these two important recommendations into clinical practice poses unique challenges for healthcare providers.
This live, 1-hour webinar, Hepatitis B-Gone! Implementing Universal Adult Screening and Vaccination. Your Practical Questions Answered., will be hosted by Immunize.org tomorrow, July 13 at 3:00 p.m. (ET). Panelists will discuss the recommendations and your practical clinical questions about how to affect the policies in private and public healthcare settings. Widespread implementation of adult screening and catch-up vaccination brings within reach the goal of eliminating hepatitis B-related liver damage and cancer in the United States.
The panelists will be:
- Carolyn Wester, MD, MPH, Director of CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis
- Kelly Moore, MD, MPH, CEO of Immunize.org
- L.J Tan, PhD, MS, Chief Policy and Partnership Officer of Immunize.org
Dr. Wester and Dr. Moore are coauthors of the ACIP hepatitis B vaccination policy statement and longstanding champions of hepatitis B elimination.
Register now to watch this important session and get your practical questions answered.
This webinar was developed by Immunize.org and was supported by Grant No. NH23IP922654 from CDC and an independent educational grant from VBI Vaccines. Its contents are solely the responsibility of Immunize.org and do not necessarily represent the official views of either CDC or VBI Vaccines.
“Live Vaccines for Contacts of Cancer Patient”: watch the 3-minute answer, part of the Ask the Experts Video Series on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram Immunize.org’s social media program highlights our educational resources for today’s vaccinators. This week, our featured episode from the Ask the Experts Video Series is Live Vaccines for Contacts of Cancer Patient. This is available on our YouTube channel, along with our full collection of quick video answers to popular Ask the Experts questions.
Our social media channels feature our most popular printable resources, our Ask the Experts Video Series, and announcements important to frontline vaccinators. Like, follow, and share Immunize.org’s social media accounts. Encourage colleagues and others interested in vaccination to do likewise:
Back to top
Immunize.org congratulates NFID on 50 years of excellence in education and advocacy. NFID celebrates by unveiling enhanced website. The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) has been educating and engaging with the public, communities, and healthcare professionals about infectious diseases for five decades.
NFID celebrated its 50th anniversary by unveiling its updated website, featuring a sleek new look and improved user experience. The improved design helps visitors explore and find timely and accurate information on specific diseases, upcoming events, the latest news, and tools and resources.
Explore NFID's improved website, and share with friends and colleagues.
Back to top
Spotlight: “Ask the Experts” answers more than 1,200 questions on vaccines and vaccinations
In this week's Spotlight, we highlight the Ask the Experts main page at Immunize.org.
Our Ask the Experts main page offers more than a thousand timely questions on vaccines and vaccine administration answered by our experts. Topics include specific diseases and their vaccines as well as vaccine delivery guidance (e.g., administration, billing, documenting).
Immunize.org's Ask the Experts main page leads you to 30 distinct web pages on a variety of topics with more than 1,200 common or challenging questions and answers (Q&As) about vaccines and their administration. Immunize.org's team of experts includes Kelly L. Moore, MD, MPH (team lead), Carolyn B. Bridges, MD, FACP, and Iyabode Beysolow, MD, MPH.
New and updated Ask the Experts Q&As are published in special editions of IZ Express five times per year. If you have a question that may interest our readers, please send it to us using our online form. Those who follow Immunize.org on social media can also enjoy and share video versions of some of our most popular Ask the Experts questions.
These recent articles convey the potential risks of vaccine-preventable diseases and the importance of vaccination.
Back to top
Immunize.org Pages and Handouts
Immunize.org updated three standing orders templates—for administering Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine to adults, human papillomavirus vaccine to adults, and meningococcal B vaccine to adolescents and adults Immunize.org updated three standing orders templates, adding QR codes linking to the online versions of the documents. Additional changes to the resources include:
  
Related Links
Back to top
Recap: Immunize.org updated these clinic resources in May and June
IZ Express regularly summarizes Immunize.org’s new and updated educational materials. All Immunize.org materials are free to distribute. In recent weeks, Immunize.org updated these helpful materials:
Immunize.org Materials for Clinicians
Immunize.org Printable Materials for Patients
Immunize.org Web Pages
Related Links
- Immunize.org: Handouts main page to see educational materials sorted by category
- Immunize.org: Ask the Experts main page to access more than 1,200 questions answered by Immunize.org experts
- Immunize.org: Clinic Tools main page and its eight subtopics
- Immunize.org: Educational Materials for Patients and Staff—an alphabetical list of more than 230 ready-to-print staff educational materials and patient handouts
Vaccine Information Statements
Immunize.org posts eight new translations of interim Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Information StatementImmunize.org posted eight translations of the new interim Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Information Statement (VIS).
All translations are available in print-ready PDF format.
Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (view in English):
Check the version dates of your office copies of newly updated translations. Translations of previous VIS versions should be discarded now that translations of the current versions are available.
Related Links
Back to top
Recap: Vaccine Information Statement translations released in May and June
IZ Express regularly provides readers with information about new and updated Vaccine Information Statements (VISs) and their translations.
On May 12, CDC released a new interim VIS for Hepatitis B. Immunize.org provided eight translations for this VIS:
Immunize.org updated two handouts related to VISs:
Related Links
Featured Resources
Voices for Vaccines releases podcast with Twitter personality, The Real Truther, discussing the pursuit of the “real truth” about vaccines Voices for Vaccines (VFV) posted a new entry in its Vax Talk podcast series: The Real Truth about Vaccines featuring Twitter personality, The Real Truther. A description from the VFV web page appears below.
Lately, Twitter has become a cesspool of the worst humans spreading the worst misinformation. Except for one bright spot: The Real Truther. We invited The Real Truther to our podcast to discuss his noble pursuit of The Real Truth and to talk with RFK Jr. (or a proxy for RFK Jr.)
Related Links
Organizing a new vaccination program? Use Immunize.org’s Vaccinating Adults: A Step-by-Step Guide—free to download by chapter or in its entirety. Download Immunize.org’s free 142-page book on adult vaccination to help build your program and train your team: Vaccinating Adults: A Step-by-Step Guide (Guide).
This thorough "how to" guide on adult vaccination provides easy-to-use, practical information covering all essential activities. It helps vaccine providers enhance their existing adult vaccination services or introduce them into any clinical setting.
The Guide is available to download/print either by chapter or in its entirety free at www.immunize.org/guide. The National Vaccine Program Office and CDC both supported the development of the Guide and provided early technical review.
The Guide is a valuable resource to assist providers in increasing adult vaccination rates. Be sure to get a copy today!
Please note: this guide was produced in 2017, before the COVID-19 era, and reflects the recommendations of that time.
Related Links
Notable Publications
"Status of New Vaccine Introduction—Worldwide, 2016–2021” published in MMWRCDC published Status of New Vaccine Introduction—Worldwide, 2016–2021 on July 7 in MMWR. A portion of the summary appears below.
The global Immunization Agenda 2021–2030 (IA2030) aims to increase equitable access to and use of new and existing vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruption to routine immunization services. . . .
By 2021, 17% of countries worldwide provided all eight World Health Organization–recommended new and underutilized vaccines in their routine immunization schedules. The number of new vaccines added to a national immunization program declined sharply at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, from 48 in 2019 to 15 in 2020. . . .
To achieve IA2030 targets, increased efforts to accelerate introductions of new and underutilized vaccines are urgently needed to facilitate equitable access, including to vaccines delivered beyond the first year of life.
Access the MMWR article in HTML or PDF.
Related Link
Back to top
“COVID-19 Vaccination and Menstrual Cycle Characteristics: A Prospective Cohort Study” published in Vaccine
In the June 29 issue, Vaccine published COVID-19 Vaccination and Menstrual Cycle Characteristics: A Prospective Cohort Study. The abstract appears below.
We prospectively examined the association between COVID-19 vaccination and menstrual cycle characteristics in an internet-based prospective cohort study. We included a sample of 1,137 participants who enrolled in Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), a preconception cohort study of couples trying to conceive, during January 2021-August 2022. Eligible participants were aged 21–45 years, United States or Canadian residents, and trying to conceive without fertility treatment. At baseline and every 8 weeks for up to 12 months, participants completed questionnaires on which they provided information on COVID-19 vaccination and menstrual cycle characteristics, including cycle regularity, cycle length, bleed length, heaviness of bleed, and menstrual pain. . . . We adjusted for sociodemographic, lifestyle, medical and reproductive factors. Participants had 1.1 day longer menstrual cycles after receiving the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine (95 % CI: 0.4, 1.9) and 1.3 day longer cycles after receiving the second dose (95 % CI: 0.2, 2.5). Associations were attenuated at the second cycle post-vaccination. We did not observe strong associations between COVID-19 vaccination and cycle regularity, bleed length, heaviness of bleed, or menstrual pain. In conclusion, COVID-19 vaccination was associated with a ∼1 day temporary increase in menstrual cycle length, but was not appreciably associated with other menstrual cycle characteristics.
Back to top
|
