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IAC Express 2009 |
| Issue number 775: January 20, 2009 |
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as well as other FREE IAC periodicals. |
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Contents
of this Issue
Select a title to jump to the article. |
- Be sure
to read New York Times article on Dr. Paul Offit's new book, Autism's
False Prophets
- The "CDC
Features" web section presents basic pertussis information for the public
- MMWR
publishes update on pneumonia hospitalizations among young U.S. children
before and after PCV7 was introduced
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Important: Be sure to give influenza vaccine throughout the influenza
season--through spring 2009
- Childhood
Influenza Immunization Coalition offers educational materials in Spanish
and five Asian languages
- HHS
awards a $487 million contract to build facility to manufacture cell-based
influenza vaccine
- WHO
announces that major updates made to its Immunization Financing web
section during 2008 are now live
- Erratum:
MMWR corrects a footnote in its October 10, 2008, article on adolescent
vaccination coverage
- HHS
releases the sixth Pandemic Planning Update
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| Abbreviations |
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AAFP, American Academy of Family Physicians; AAP,
American Academy of Pediatrics; ACIP, Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices; AMA, American Medical Association; CDC, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; IAC, Immunization
Action Coalition; MMWR, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report; NCIRD,
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; NIVS, National
Influenza Vaccine Summit; VIS, Vaccine Information Statement; VPD,
vaccine-preventable disease; WHO, World Health Organization. |
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Issue 775: January 20, 2009 |
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1. |
Be sure to read New York Times article on Dr. Paul Offit's new book, Autism's
False Prophets
On January 12, the New York Times published an
article titled
"Book Is Rallying Resistance to the Antivaccine Crusade."
Written by science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr., the
article contains interviews with respected public health,
vaccine, and autism professionals commenting on the vaccine-
autism controversy and Dr. Offit's most recent book, "Autism's
False Prophets: Bad science, risky medicine, and the search for
a cure."
The Times article is available online at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/health/13auti.html?scp=7&sq=january+13+2009&st=nyt
If you are not registered to access the
Times online, you may need to register; there is no charge to do
so.
Dr. Offit is the chief of Infectious Diseases and the director
of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia, as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of
Vaccinology and professor of pediatrics at the University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "Autism's False Prophets" was
published in September 2008 by Columbia University Press. For
information about it, including a video of Dr. Offit, go to:
http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14636-4/autisms-false-prophets/webFeatures
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2. |
The "CDC Features" web section presents basic pertussis information for the
public
The CDC web section titled "CDC Features"
recently posted
information about pertussis for the public. Titled "Pertussis
(Whooping Cough)--What You Need To Know," it covers symptoms,
transmission, and prevention; it also presents links to
additional sources of online information.
To access this feature, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Pertussis
To access an alphabetical index of archived CDC Features, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features
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3. |
MMWR publishes update on pneumonia hospitalizations among young U.S. children
before and after PCV7 was introduced
CDC published "Pneumonia Hospitalization Among
Young Children
Before and After Introduction of Pneumococcal Conjugate
Vaccine--United States, 1997-2006" in the January 16 issue of
MMWR. Portions of the article are reprinted below.
Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading bacterial cause of
community-acquired pneumonia hospitalizations and an important
cause of bacteremia and meningitis, especially among young
children and older adults. A 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate
vaccine (PCV7) was licensed and the Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices formulated recommendations for its use in
infants and children in February 2000. Vaccination coverage
rapidly increased during the second half of 2000, in part
through funding by CDC's Vaccines for Children program.
Subsequently, active population- and laboratory-based
surveillance demonstrated substantial reductions in invasive
pneumococcal disease (IPD) among children and adults. In
addition, decreases in hospitalizations and ambulatory-care
visits for all-cause pneumonia also were reported. To gauge
whether the effects of PCV7 on reducing pneumonia continue, CDC
is monitoring pneumonia hospitalizations by using data from the
Nationwide Inpatient Sample. This report provides an update for
2005 and 2006, the most recent years for which information is
available. In 2005 and 2006, the incidence rates for all-cause
pneumonia hospitalizations among children aged <2 years were 9.1
per 1,000 and 8.1 per 1,000, respectively. In 2006, the rate for
all-cause pneumonia among children aged <2 years was
approximately 35% lower than during 1997-1999. Most of this
decrease occurred soon after the vaccine was licensed in 2000,
and the rates have remained relatively stable since then. The
rate for all-cause pneumonia among children aged 2-4 years did
not change after PCV7 licensure and has remained stable.
Continued monitoring of pneumonia-related hospitalizations among
children is needed to track the effects of pneumococcal
immunization programs. . . .
To access a web-text (HTML) version of the complete article, go
to: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5801a1.htm
To access a ready-to-print (PDF) version of this issue of MMWR,
go to: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5801.pdf
To receive a FREE electronic subscription to MMWR (which
includes new ACIP recommendations), go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwrsubscribe.html
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4. |
Important: Be sure to give influenza vaccine throughout the influenza
season--through spring 2009
Influenza activity is increasing, and yearly
vaccination is the
first and most important step in protecting against influenza
and its complications. It is important to continue vaccinating
into the spring months. The supply of influenza vaccine is
robust; if you run out of vaccine in your work setting, please
place another order.
For abundant information about influenza vaccination, visit the
following two websites often. They are continually updated with
the latest resources:
The National Influenza Vaccine Summit website at
http://www.preventinfluenza.org
CDC's Seasonal Flu web section at http://www.cdc.gov/flu
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5. |
Childhood Influenza Immunization Coalition offers educational materials in
Spanish and five Asian languages
The Childhood Influenza Immunization Coalition
recently
announced that its website now has childhood influenza education
materials available in Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese,
Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Patient fact sheets and waiting
room posters are available in all languages; healthcare
professional fact sheets, FAQs, print public service
announcements, and more are available in Spanish.
To access the materials, go to:
http://www.preventchildhoodinfluenza.org/healthcare/multilingual_materials.php
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6. |
HHS awards a $487 million contract to build facility to manufacture
cell-based influenza vaccine
On January 15, the Department of Health and Human
Services
issued a press release announcing that it has awarded a $487
million contract to Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc., to
build the first U.S. facility to manufacture cell-based
influenza vaccine. Portions of the press release are reprinted
below.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today
announced a $487 million multiple year contract with Novartis
Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc., to build the first U.S. facility
to manufacture cell-based vaccine for seasonal and pandemic flu.
Because cell-based influenza vaccine can be made faster and in
greater quantities than traditional vaccine, the new facility is
expected to increase the U.S. capacity to make pandemic
influenza vaccine by at least 25 percent.
Cell-based vaccine production could more easily meet surge
capacity needs because cells could be frozen and stored in
advance of an epidemic or developed rapidly in response to an
epidemic. Cell-based vaccine production also dramatically
reduces the possibility for contamination and promises to
be more reliable, flexible, and expandable than egg-based
methods. . . .
To access the complete press release, go to:
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/01/20090115b.html
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7. |
WHO announces that major updates made to its Immunization Financing web
section during 2008 are now live
WHO recently announced that updates and
developments made to its
Immunization Financing web section in 2008 are now live. To
access them, go to: http://www.who.int/immunization_financing/en
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8. |
Erratum: MMWR corrects a footnote in its October 10, 2008, article on adolescent
vaccination coverage
CDC published "Erratum: Vol. 57, No. 40" in the
January 16 issue
of MMWR. It concerns an error that appeared in "Vaccination
Coverage Among Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years--United States,
2007," which was published in MMWR on October 10, 2008. The
correction is reprinted below in its entirety.
In the report, "Vaccination Coverage Among Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years--United States, 2007," on page 1100, in the second
footnote, an error occurred. The first sentence of the footnote
should read as follows:
"[dagger] NIS-Teen 2007 was conducted during the fourth quarter
2007 only; eligible participants were born during October 5,
1989-February 14, 1995."
To access a web-text (HTML) version of the erratum, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5801a4.htm
To access a ready-to-print (PDF) version of this issue of MMWR,
go to: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5801.pdf
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9. |
HHS
releases the sixth Pandemic Planning Update
On January 8, Michael Leavitt, Secretary of HHS
(Department of
Health and Human Services), released a report titled "Pandemic
Planning Update VI." It provides recent information on the
department's priorities related to pandemic planning, which were
outlined in the original report, "Pandemic Planning Update,"
dated March 13, 2006.
To access the sixth update, go to:
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/pdf/panflureport6.pdf
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