Issue Number
293 January
28, 2002
CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
- If parents ask:
Article summarizes research on safety of
multiple vaccines for infants
- CDC evaluates
immunization registry use
- New "PKIDs'
Pediatric Hepatitis Report" combines text and
testimonial
- CDC seeks deputy
director for National Immunization Program
- Revised Spanish
translations! Infant, children/teen charts
reflect changes
- Pharmacy Vaccination
State Mandates web page updated
- Newest VAERS
bibliography on vaccine safety is online
- CDC publishes
article on increase in Lyme disease reports
- Fifth Annual
Conference on Vaccine Research happens in May
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January 28, 2002
IF PARENTS ASK: ARTICLE SUMMARIZES RESEARCH ON SAFETY OF
MULTIPLE VACCINES FOR INFANTS
Parents of infants and young children have no reason to
fear "too many vaccines," confirms an article
in the January issue of Pediatrics. With
references to a total of 63 studies, the short
article provides a veritable crash
course in the infant and child immune response in general
and to vaccine antigens in particular.
"Addressing Parents' Concerns: Do Multiple Vaccines
Overwhelm or Weaken the Infant's Immune
System?" was written by Paul A. Offit, M.D.,
Section of Infectious Diseases, Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia, University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Wistar Institute
of Anatomy and Biology, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania; Jessica Quarles, Division of
Infectious Diseases, National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National
Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; Michael A.
Gerber, M.D., National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda, Maryland; and five other authors. In
just three pages, the article answers the most
common questions about possible
lowered immune response following multiple vaccines. It
also provides evidence suggesting that,
amazingly, infants "have the theoretical capacity
to respond to about 10,000 vaccines at any one
time." Finally, it explains for skeptical parents
that while "we now give children more
vaccines, the actual number of antigens they receive has
declined" in recent decades.
The Summary reads as follows:
*******************************
Current studies do not support the hypothesis that
multiple vaccines overwhelm, weaken, or "use up"
the immune system. On the contrary, young infants
have an enormous capacity to respond to multiple
vaccines, as well as to the many other
challenges present in the environment. By
providing protection against a number of
bacterial and viral pathogens, vaccines prevent the
"weakening" of the immune system and
consequent secondary bacterial infections
occasionally caused by natural infection.
*******************************
To view the Abstract of this article online, go to:
http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/109/1/124
To view the full text of this article online, go to:
http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/109/1/124
To obtain a camera-ready (PDF format) copy of the article,
go to:
http://www.aap.org/family/124.pdf
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January 28, 2002
CDC EVALUATES IMMUNIZATION REGISTRY USE
On January 25, 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) published "Immunization
Registry Use and Progress--United States, 2001" in
the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
(MMWR).
CDC analyzed data from the "2000 Immunization Registry
Annual Report" and found that 32 of 51
grantees reported operating registries in 2000,
and all 51 "were working to meet key elements of
the 13 functional standards
established for immunization registries."
The introductory paragraph states, "Registries are key
tools used to increase and sustain high
vaccination coverage by providing complete and
accurate information on which to base vaccination
decisions. Registries consolidate
vaccination records of children from multiple
healthcare providers, identify children who are
due or late for vaccinations, generate reminder
and recall notices to ensure
that children are appropriately vaccinated,
and identify provider sites and geographic areas
with low vaccination coverage."
To obtain the complete text of the article online, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5103a2.htm
To obtain a camera-ready (PDF format) copy of this issue
of MMWR, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5103.pdf
HOW TO OBTAIN A FREE ELECTRONIC SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MMWR:
To obtain a free electronic subscription to the "Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report" (MMWR), visit
CDC's MMWR website at:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr Select
"Free MMWR Subscription" from the
menu at the left of the screen. Once you
have submitted the required information, weekly
issues of the MMWR and all new ACIP statements
(published as MMWR's "Recommendations and
Reports") will arrive
automatically by email.
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January 28, 2002
NEW "PKIDS' PEDIATRIC HEPATITIS REPORT" COMBINES TEXT AND
TESTIMONIAL
If you have or work with children who have chronic viral
hepatitis, a new 530-page report from Parents
of Kids with Infectious Diseases (PKIDs)
will help you understand hepatitis A-E, from
transmission to diagnosis to treatment
to civil rights protections and more. Parents' personal
statements and sections on how to talk to
children about their condition add perspective to
the technical content.
Critical issues for parents covered in this report include
how to choose a doctor for your child,
treatment options, how to disclose the illness to
your child, and how to find or start a support
group.
As Dr. Philip Rosenthal, Professor of Pediatrics and
Surgery and Medical Director, Pediatric Liver Transplant
Program, and Director of Pediatric
Hepatology, University of California at San
Francisco, states in his introductory letter to
the volume, "A diagnosis of chronic liver
disease from viral hepatitis in a child can be devastating
to a parent. After the initial shock,
parents have a multitude of questions." Until this
report came out, there was, as Dr.
Rosenthal puts it, "very little information
available in one reference to aid families dealing with
this diagnosis."
Dr. Deborah Wexler, IAC's Executive Director, calls the
report "essential for parents who have children
with chronic viral hepatitis."
To access the "PKIDs' Pediatric Hepatitis Report" online,
go to:
http://www.pkids.org/pedheprep.htm
The above page contains a table of contents with direct
links to individual chapters and sections. For a
camera-ready (PDF format) copy of the Introduction, go to:
http://www.pkids.org/phrintro.pdf
To order a hard copy of the entire report in a 3-ring
binder ($45.00 per copy), contact PKIDs by email
at
pkids@pkids.org or fax at (360) 695-6941, or mail your
check, money order, or credit card number to:
PKIDs
P.O. Box 5666
Vancouver, WA 98668
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January 28, 2002
CDC SEEKS DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR NATIONAL IMMUNIZATION
PROGRAM
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is
hiring a new Deputy Director for the
National Immunization Program (NIP) based in
Atlanta, Georgia. According to the vacancy
announcement, "The Deputy assumes full authority
for the operation of the program and is authorized
to make all decisions and commitments in
the absence of the Director. NIP provides national
leadership to reduce disability and death
resulting from diseases that can be prevented
through immunization. The Program relies on the
expertise and personal dedication of its 450 permanent
employees and 72 contractors, interns, fellows, guest
researchers, and consultants working throughout
the world in a broad range of scientific,
technical, and administrative fields. NIP has one
of the largest program
budgets within CDC with an appropriation of more than $1.5
billion in fiscal year 2001. The scope of
the programs implemented by NIP are global in
nature."
To see the complete announcement on CDC's website, go to:
http://www2.cdc.gov/hrmo/viewdetail.asp?AnnouncementNumber=10-02-007
For more information about the position, prospective
applicants may contact either Kimberly S. Lane,
Acting Associate Director for Management
and Operations, NIP, by phone at (404) 639-8918 or
email at ksb1@cdc.gov or James
S. Marks, M.D., M.P.H., Director, National Center for
Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, and Chair, Search Committee, by phone
at (770) 488-5401 or email
at jsm1@cdc.gov
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January 28, 2002
REVISED SPANISH TRANSLATIONS! INFANT AND CHILDREN/TEEN
CHARTS REFLECT CHANGES
Two of IAC's most-used publications were revised earlier
this month. Now we have posted the revised
Spanish translations on our website.
"When Do Children and Teens Need Vaccinations?" is a chart
that shows the seven major childhood
vaccines and the age(s) at which to give each dose
of them. This is as simple and clear as it gets.
To obtain "When Do Children and Teens Need Vaccinations?"
in Spanish, go to:
HTML: http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4050-01.htm
PDF: http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4050-01.pdf
For the English version of "When Do Children and Teens
Need Vaccinations?" go to:
HTML: http://www.immunize.org/nslt.d/n17/when1.htm
PDF: http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/when1.pdf
"Immunizations for Babies" does the same thing for infant
vaccinations, showing parents which
vaccines to give babies at birth, 1-2 months, and
so on up to 15 months of age.
To obtain "Immunizations for Babies" in Spanish, go to:
HTML: http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4010-01.htm
PDF: http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4010-01.pdf
For the English version of "Immunization for Babies," go
to:
HTML: http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4010.htm
PDF: http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4010imm.pdf
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January 28, 2002
PHARMACY VACCINATION STATE MANDATES WEB PAGE UPDATED
This page on IAC's website answers one simple but
important question about each state in the U.S.:
"Are pharmacists explicitly authorized to
vaccinate?" IAC updates this page several times
per year.
To see IAC's Pharmacy Vaccination Mandates web page, go
to:
http://www.immunize.org/laws/pharm.htm
If you know of any new or changed state
mandates for pharmacy vaccination or other
immunization issues, please
let us know. Although we monitor immunization laws and
regulations across the nation, we also rely
on readers and IAC members to keep us informed.
Contact us by email at
admin@immunize.org
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January 28, 2002
NEWEST VAERS BIBLIOGRAPHY ON VACCINE SAFETY IS ONLINE
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS),
jointly sponsored by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), periodically posts
on its website a list of
articles related to vaccine safety culled from the
National Library of Medicine's PubMed database.
VAERS offers this "Vaccine Safety Bibliography" as
a public service.
The newest list, dated January 2002, has just been made
available. It contains 29 article citations.
The bibliography can be viewed as an HTML or a PDF
document. Citations directly link to abstracts
and/or full texts of articles through the PubMed
site.
For the January 2002 VAERS "Vaccine Safety Bibliography,"
go to:
HTML:
http://www.vaers.org/bibliographies/vaersbib0102.htm
PDF:
http://www.vaers.org/bibliographies/vaersbib0102.pdf
For 2001 bibliographies, go to:
http://www.vaers.org/bibliographies/2001.htm
To learn more about VAERS, go to:
http://www.vaers.org
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January 28, 2002
CDC PUBLISHES ARTICLE ON INCREASE IN LYME DISEASE REPORTS
On January 18, 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) published "Lyme
Disease--United States, 2000" in the Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
The first paragraph reads as follows:
********************************
Lyme disease (LD) is caused by the tickborne spirochete
Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and is the
most common vectorborne disease in the
United States. CDC initiated LD surveillance in
1982, and the Council of State and
Territorial Epidemiologists designated it a nationally
notifiable disease in 1991. This report
summarizes the 17,730 cases of LD reported to CDC
during 2000, which indicates that
more LD cases were reported in 2000 than in
any previous reporting year and that the reported
incidence of LD is greatest in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and
north-central regions of the United States.
LD can be prevented by reducing tick populations, avoiding
tick-infested habitats, using repellents,
promptly removing attached ticks, and vaccination.
********************************
To obtain the complete text of this article, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5102a3.htm
To obtain a camera-ready (PDF format) copy of
this issue of MMWR, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5102.pdf
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January 28, 2002
FIFTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON VACCINE RESEARCH HAPPENS IN MAY
The Fifth Annual Conference on Vaccine Research will be
held May 6-8, 2002, at the Wyndham
Baltimore Inner Harbor Hotel in downtown
Baltimore, Maryland. The conference will be "a
multidisciplinary scientific forum addressing a
broad array of cutting-edge issues in vaccine research"
with seminars and panels on "basic immunology, vaccine
development, clinical testing, and vaccine
regulation."
This conference is sponsored by the National Foundation
for Infectious Diseases (NFID). Continuing
Medical Education (CME) credit is available.
The early bird conference registration fee is $350
(through March 22) and $400 thereafter. For more
information or for a conference brochure, contact Lisa
Gaylord or Kathleen Hanrahan by phone at
(301) 656-0003 (ext. 19) or email at
vaccine@nfid.org
To learn more about the conference online, go to:
http://www.nfid.org/conferences/vaccine02/
To register for the conference online, go to:
https://secure.bnt.com/webresponse/nfid/vaccine02/
Hotel reservations should be made by April 12 to get the
single-occupancy conference rate of $159
(plus tax) per night. Call the Wyndham Baltimore
Inner Harbor Hotel at (800) 996-3426 or (410)
385-6700.
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