On July 18, CDC released an interim edition of the VIS for the hepatitis B vaccine; it replaces the 7/11/01 edition. The primary reason for issuing the interim edition is to stress that the birth dose of the vaccine is now recommended for ALL newborns before hospital discharge. Other changes were made throughout the interim VIS.

Existing stocks of the previous (7/11/01) edition may be used, but use of the interim edition is encouraged. A final edition is expected in 2008.

To access the interim VIS for hepatitis B vaccine from the CDC website, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-hep-b.pdf

To access it from the IAC website, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/hepb01.pdf

For information about the use of VISs, and for VISs in more than 30 languages, visit IAC's VIS web section at http://www.immunize.org/vis

On July 27, CDC posted an announcement on the portion of its website titled "News about Vaccine Information Statements." It concerns the 7/16/07 edition of the VIS for live, attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV, intranasal). The announcement cautions providers against printing large quantities of the VIS as FDA may approve vaccine licensing changes in the near future. The announcement is reprinted below in its entirety.

To access the announcement, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/vis-news.htm#flu

IAC recently revised its ready-to-print Q&A patient-education piece "Pertussis: Questions and Answers." Specifically, the answer to the question titled "Can you get pertussis more than once?" was updated.

To obtain a ready-to-print (PDF) version of the revised piece, go to: http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4212.pdf

In the past several weeks, IAC Express announced the availability of ready-to-print Q&As on many vaccine-preventable diseases and vaccines. These pieces can be printed and handed out to patients to help educate them about the seriousness of VPDs and the importance of vaccination. For more information, please see article #4 in the July 2, 2007, issue of IAC Express, which is located at http://www.immunize.org/express/issue672.asp#n4

CDC recently posted updated information about some of its educational materials on human papillomavirus (HPV). Details follow:

The English-language versions of the patient-education brochure and poster titled "HPV: Common Infection, Common Reality" are once again available for online ordering. The brochure product code is 99-8362; the poster product code is 99-8363.

To order, go to: https://www2a.cdc.gov/nchstp_od/piweb/stdorderform.asp Scroll down until you find the pertinent product code(s).

The brochure and poster are also available for downloading at
http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/common-downloads.htm

Following concerns that have recently emerged in the media about the HPV vaccine, CDC developed educational materials for the general public and professionals.

"HPV Vaccine--Questions and Answers for the Public" is available at
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/hpv/hpv-vacsafe-effic.htm

The professional-education piece "CDC Questions and Answers Concerning the Safety and Efficacy of Gardasil" is available at
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/hpv/downloads/vac-faqs-vacsafe-efficacy.pdf

CDC offers two sources of extensive and comprehensive HPV information:

(1) For information from the HPV topic page of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases web section, go to: http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv

(2) For information from the HPV topic page of CDC's Vaccines & Immunizations web section, go to: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/hpv

The CDC website recently posted the PowerPoint slides presented at the June 27-28 ACIP meeting. Slides are available on the following topics:

• Hepatitis A vaccine
• Vaccine financing
• Adult Immunization Schedule
• Childhood/Adolescent Immunization Schedule
• Immunization Safety Office
• Herpes zoster vaccine
• Combination vaccines
• Meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV4)
• Economic analyses of vaccine
• Vaccines supply
• Pneumococcal vaccines
• Vaccines during Pregnancy
• Influenza
• Vaccines in persons with HIV/AIDS
• Rotavirus vaccines
• Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines
• Varicella
• Agency update

To access the slides, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/acip/slides-jun07.htm

Dated 7/16/07, the current version of the VIS for trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV; injectable) is now available on the IAC website in Turkish. Also, the current versions of the VISs for inactivated polio vaccine (IPV, dated 1/1/00) and measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR; dated 1/15/03) are available on the IAC website in Amharic (spoken in Ethiopia). IAC gratefully acknowledges Mustafa Kozanoglu, MD, and Murat Serbest, MD, Adana, Turkey, for the Turkish translation; and Healthy Roads Media, Bozeman, MT, for the Amharic translations.

To obtain a ready-to-print (PDF) version of the VIS for TIV in Turkish, go to: http://www.immunize.org/vis/tu_flu06.pdf

To obtain it in English, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/2flu.pdf

To obtain a ready-to-print (PDF) version of the VIS for IPV in Amharic, go to: http://www.immunize.org/vis/am_pol.pdf

To obtain it in English, go to: http://www.immunize.org/vis/ipv-00.pdf

To obtain a ready-to-print (PDF) version of the VIS for MMR vaccine in Amharic, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/am_mmr.pdf

To obtain it in English, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/mmr03.pdf

For information about the use of VISs, and for VISs in more than 30 languages, visit IAC's VIS web section at http://www.immunize.org/vis

On July 20, the WHO publication Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) published "Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety [GACVS], 12-13 June 2007." An expert clinical and scientific advisory body, GACVS deals independently and with scientific rigor with vaccine safety issues of potential global importance. It held its sixteenth meeting June 12-13.

The WER article summarizes some of the issues meeting attendees considered, including the following vaccine safety and policy issues: (1) monitoring vaccine safety; (2) safety of vaccine formulations; (3) mumps vaccine virus strain repository; (4) safety of BCG [bacille Calmette-Guerin] vaccines; (5) safety of human papillomavirus vaccine; (6) update on Menactra and Guillain-Barre syndrome; (7) safety of rotavirus vaccines; and (8) influenza vaccines: update.

To access a ready-to-print (PDF) version of the July 20 issue, go to: http://www.who.int/wer/2007/wer8228_29.pdf

CDC recently issued the July issue of the email newsletter Pandemic Influenza Update. To access it, go to: http://www.immunize.org/pandemic/panflu707.pdf

To access a range of pandemic influenza resources on the IAC website, go to http://www.immunize.org/pandemic

[The following is cross posted from the July 2007 issue of Parents PACK, an electronic newsletter published by the Vaccine Education Center of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. To access the Parents PACK archives, go to: http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=85561]

Spotlight: Polio Leaves Its Mark

The summer of 1950 made a lasting impression in the Blue Ridge Mountain town of Wytheville, VA. During the summer referred to as the "summer without children," the polio outbreak was more severe than anywhere else in the country.

At the end of June 2007, the Department of Museums in Wytheville celebrated the opening of a new permanent exhibit about the polio outbreak during the "summer without children."

In this 1950s town with a typical main street and summers full of tourists from the south looking to enjoy the cool mountain air, polio affected everyone. The exhibit nicely sets up 1950s life in Wytheville and traces the cases of polio through memoirs and recollections of family members, physicians, businessmen, and funeral directors, who doubled as ambulance drivers throughout the epidemic. In addition to film footage, newspaper reports, and personal accounts, the exhibit also displays both infant-size and adult iron lungs.

To learn more, visit the Wytheville Department of Museums website at http://museums.wytheville.org/default.htm The polio exhibit is housed in the Thomas J. Boyd Museum. The museum coordinator of heritage education has also written about the polio outbreak in "A Summer Without Children," available on the website in the publications section.

The National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) of the Department of Health and Human Services seeks a senior public health advisor for its office in Washington, DC. The closing date for filing an application is August 17, 2007.

According to the job announcement, "the incumbent serves as principal advisor and confidant to the Director of the National Vaccine Program Office in planning and determining public health policies, programs, and activities related to vaccines and immunization."

For additional information, go to: http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov In the box titled Keyword Search, type in this job announcement number: HHS-OS-2007-0299. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on the button titled Search for Jobs.

CDC published "Notice to Readers: Epidemic Intelligence Service Application Deadline--September 15, 2007" in the July 27 issue of MMWR. The notice is reprinted below in its entirety.

To receive a FREE electronic subscription to MMWR (which includes new ACIP statements), go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwrsubscribe.html

The Minnesota Department of Health has scheduled its 2007 immunization conference for October 11-12 in Bloomington, MN. Titled "Got Your Shots?" the conference will bring together public and private partners to explore ongoing and upcoming issues related to vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization. Conference presenters include Donna Weaver, RN, MN, from CDC; Paul Offit, MD, from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; and L.J. Tan, PhD, from the American Medical Association. Registration will open in August.

For comprehensive conference information, go to:
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/immunize/gysconf07.html

For more information, contact Chris Rosga at Christine.rosga@health.state.mn.us or (651) 201-5558.

The Hib Initiative unites experts from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization. Its mission is to expedite and sustain evidence-informed decisions at the global, regional, and country levels regarding the use of Hib vaccination to prevent childhood meningitis and pneumonia.

The newsletter Hib Focus provides a focus on haemophilus influenzae type b and the work of the Hib Initiative.

To access a ready-to-print (PDF) version of the July 2007 issue of Hib Focus, go to:
http://www.hibaction.org/news/newsletter/hibFocusVol2No3.pdf

To sign up to receive this quarterly newsletter by email, go to:
http://www.hibaction.org/news/newsletter

To visit the Hib Initiative website, go to:
http://www.hibaction.org