 National Influenza Vaccination Week
Webinar
December 5, 2018
1-2 p.m. EST
#HowIRecommend Flu Vaccine:
How to Make Recommendations that Matter to Patients
You may already be recommending flu vaccine to your patients, but in this webinar, you'll get tips on how to make even stronger and more effective recommendations. You'll also learn how to answer many important questions from patients.
Objectives:
- Understand burden and severity of last year’s flu season
- Describe flu vaccine benefits, including potential flu burden averted by vaccination
- Describe how to make a strong and effective flu vaccine recommendation to patients and why your recommendation matters
- Illustrate how to properly administer flu vaccine
For more information on National Influenza Vaccination Week, please click here.
Fact or Myth?
The flu shot does not cause the flu.
FACT.
There are several reasons why this misconception persists:
- Less than 1% of people who are vaccinated with the injectable vaccine develop flu-like symptoms, such as mild fever and muscle aches, after vaccination. These side effects are not the same as having influenza, but people confuse the symptoms.
- Protective immunity doesn't develop until 1–2 weeks after vaccination. Some people who get vaccinated later in the season (December or later) may be infected with influenza virus shortly afterward. These late vaccinees develop influenza because they were exposed to someone with the virus before they became immune. It is not the result of the vaccination.
For more information, click here.
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This video describes the journey of a vaccine for children from development through post-licensure monitoring. Learn about the three phases of clinical trials, vaccine licensing and manufacturing, how a vaccine is added to the U.S. Recommended Immunization Schedule, and how FDA and CDC monitor vaccine safety after the public begins using the vaccine.
For the infographic, click here. |
Vaccine Ingredients: Addressing Parental Fears
Some parents are concerned about ingredients in vaccines, specifically aluminum, formaldehyde and mercury. However, parents can be reassured that ingredients in vaccines are minuscule and necessary.
Did you know...?
Aluminum is present in our environment; the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.
- In the first six months of life, babies receive about 4 milligrams* of aluminum if they get all of the recommended vaccines. During this same period they will ingest about 10 milligrams of aluminum if they are breastfed, 40 milligrams if they are fed regular infant formula, and up to 120 milligrams if they are fed soy-based infant formula. *A milligram is one-thousandth of a gram and a gram is one-fifth of a teaspoon of water.
Formaldehyde is a by-product of vaccine production. Formaldehyde is used during the manufacture of some vaccines to inactivate viruses (like polio and hepatitis A viruses) or bacterial toxins (like diphtheria and tetanus toxins).While most formaldehyde is purified away, small quantities remain.
- Formaldehyde is also a by-product of protein and DNA synthesis, so it is
commonly found in the bloodstream. The quantity of formaldehyde found in
blood is 10 times greater than that found in any vaccine.
Mercury is contained in some multi dose preparations of influenza vaccine as a preservative. Preservatives prevent contamination with bacteria.
- Infants who are exclusively breastfed ingest more than twice the quantity of mercury than was contained in vaccines. Today, breastfed infants ingest 15 times more mercury in breast milk than is contained in the influenza vaccine.
For more information from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on vaccine safety, please click here.
Whooping Cough is on the rise
We have seen an increase in whooping cough cases around the state and want you to be prepared with materials and resources to educate your patients and the community.
For additional materials/information, please click here or here. |
