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New and Noteworthy

317 Vaccines for Adults (VFA) Program

Section 317 of the Public Health Service Act authorizes the federal purchase of vaccines to vaccinate children, adolescents, and adults. Click here to see the new 317 Vaccine for Adults (VFA) Program Frequently Asked Questions.

‘You Call the Shots’ Training Modules

‘You Call the Shots’ is an interactive, web-based immunization training course for healthcare providers that discuss vaccine-preventable diseases and explain the latest recommendations for vaccine use. The following modules have been updated to include the latest guidelines and recommendations in vaccine practice:

• Updated Storage and Handling 2024
• Updated Vaccines for Children Program 2024

Visit the webpage for more information. 

CDC Update: Clinical Considerations for Providers Caring for Newcomers from Ukraine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is supporting the arrival of displaced Ukrainians across the U.S. Please review CDC's Interim Clinical Considerations for Providers Caring for Newcomers from Ukraine for important information, including immunization recommendations and key provider resources addressing potentially common, communicable diseases that may be present among this population. Click here for additional information.

2024 ACIP Recommended Immunization Schedules Released

Find updated versions of recommended immunization schedules for children, teens and adults on the CDC Immunization Schedules website. Several formats, including parent-friendly versions, are available.

• Recommended Immunization Schedules for Persons Aged 0 Through 18 Years, U.S., 2024
• Recommended Immunization Schedule for Adults Aged 19 Years and Older, U.S., 2024

Promoting Flu and COVID-19 Vaccines

Influenza (flu) and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses and required separate vaccines.  Annual influenza vaccination is recommended for everyone aged 6 months and older to decrease illness and death caused by influenza. Getting up to date, and staying up to date with the COVID-19 vaccination is also important.

Reducing the overall burden of respiratory illnesses is important to protect vulnerable populations at risk for severe illness, our healthcare system, and other critical infrastructure, such as people who work in transportation, food services, and emergency services. CDC recommends that healthcare personnel use every opportunity during the influenza season to administer influenza vaccines to all eligible persons, including:

• Essential workers: Healthcare personnel, including staff in post-acute and long-term care facilities, as well as pharmacy staff, and other critical workers.
• Persons at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19: Including adults aged 65 years and older, residents in post-acute and long-term care facilities, and persons of all ages with certain underlying medical conditions. COVID-19 has unequally affected many racial and ethnic minority groups, putting them more at risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19.
• Persons at high risk for influenza complications: Including infants aged 6 months and older and young children less than 5 years of age, children with neurologic conditions, pregnant people, adults aged 65 years and older, and other persons with certain underlying medical conditions.

Healthcare personnel should consult current influenza vaccine recommendations for guidance around the timing of administration and use of specific vaccines.

2020 Pink Book Series

CDC is offering a series of weekly one-hour web-on-demand videos that will provide an overview of vaccination principles, general best practices, immunization strategies, and specific information about vaccine-preventable diseases and the vaccines that prevent them. There is no registration process to view the sessions. The link to each course can be accessed on/after the indicated date. Please visit the Pink Book series page for the schedule and additional information. Continuing Education (CE) will be available for each event.

Routine Immunizations

All vaccines due or overdue should be administered according to the recommended CDC immunization schedules during each visit.

Immunization Training for Healthcare Providers

CDC offers education and training programs for healthcare personnel, many with continuing education credits/contact hours available. A variety of topics and formats, based on vaccine recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP), are available.  These include:

• CDC’s Pink Book Series. These one-hour, web-on-demand videos provide an overview of vaccination principles, general best practices, immunization strategies, and specific information about vaccine-preventable diseases and the vaccines that prevent them. 
• Current Issues in Immunization. These live, one-hour presentations, collectively titled “Current Issues in Immunization,” are scheduled 4 to 5 times per year. Specific topics are announced prior to each occurrence. Presented by the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, these webinars and designed to provide clinicians with the most up-to-date information on immunizations.
• Training and Continuing Education Online (TCEO). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosts an extensive series of educational opportunities on the Training and Continuing Education Online (TCEO) section of its web page. You can search for courses and sign up for continuing education credits on the TCEO site.
• Immunization Courses: Webcasts and Self Study.  CDC has created a range of web-on-demand, self-paced module for healthcare providers on critical immunization topics including COVID-19, Influenza, HPV and more.
• CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).  Health care providers also can earn continuing education credits by reading almost any recent edition of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) and completing a short quiz. Find out more here.

The North Carolina Immunization Branch also hosts trainings and offers other resources including a quality improvement program for healthcare providers and a listing of courses designed to meet annual VFC educational requirement.

North Carolina Immunization Program (NCIP) Requirements

Review the basics of the NCIP, learn how to join and what’s required of an enrolled provider. Access links to important documents, memos from the Immunization Branch, vaccine storage and handling resources, vaccine information statements and resources on reporting vaccine preventable diseases in North Carolina.

North Carolina Immunization Registry (NCIR)

Learn about the NCIR and how it can help your practice track immunizations and identify patients who need vaccinations. 

Resources

• Fight the Flu and COVID-19 too: Influenza vaccination in December and beyond and the practical approaches to coadministration of vaccines in adults. A one-hour webinar to help health care providers feel confident and secure in their ability to administer multiple vaccines (including influenza and COVID-19) to adult patients in one visit.
• Resources from the NC Immunization Branch. View and download important documents like VAL forms and reminder/recall postcards, and access guides and tools.
• Fever, Rash and Travel? Consider Measles Poster
• Click here to review North Carolina Immunization Rules and Laws.
• A short video on the correct technique for intramuscular injection.