Flu Vaccine is Now Available for Maine Immunization Program Providers to Order!
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FluLaval - Children 6 months or older
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Fluzone - Children 6-35 months
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Fluzone - Children 6 months or older
** FluMist is no longer available to order. We have distributed all of the doses we had for this flu season. **
Promoting Flu Vaccination in Your Office
The flu vaccine is now available and we want to make sure that you are ready!
Be sure to:
- Update your Vaccine Information Statements to reflect the newest version released on 8/15/2019 for both inactivated and live flu vaccines.
- Stock patient educational resources about influenza vaccination.
- Plan ahead and prepare patient lists, notifications, and scheduling. Use the ImmPact registry or your clinic’s own system to remind patients and set up recall notifications for patients needing second doses. Make sure that children with high-risk conditions are identified, and vaccinated as early as possible.
- Issue prepared notification to patients about flu clinics, once flu vaccine arrives at your practice. Use every visit as an opportunity to immunize and protect patients against flu.
For more resources and print materials, click here for the Health Care Professionals Fight Flu Toolkit.
Quarterly Vaccine Reminder Recall
Beginning in November, the Maine Immunization Program will start running quarterly vaccine reminder recalls for children 18-35 months for all childhood vaccines and adolescents ages 11-13 for tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap), meningococcal (MenACWY) and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. These reminder recalls will be run for all family medicine and pediatric sites that are enrolled in the program.
Each site will receive a letter within the next couple weeks that will identify the week that you can expect letters to be mailed to your patients.
Please make sure that your inventory is appropriately stocked and that all ImmPact data entry is current for the most accurate reminder recall. If you have any questions, please contact Valerie MacKenzie: Phone: (207) 287-3862 or email: valerie.mackenzie@Maine.gov
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Second Dose Flu Recommendations for Children 6 months through 8 years of age
Some children from the ages of 6 months through 8 years may require 2 doses of influenza vaccine this season. The algorithm below can help you determine how many doses your young patients may need. To view the full document, click here.
 *The two doses need not have been received during the same season or consecutive seasons.
For the full algorithm, please visit the Immunization Action Coalition's Guide for Determining the Number of Doses of Influenza Vaccine to Give to Children age 6 Months Through 8 years.
NEW ImmPact Functionality AFIX Product Now Available
The Maine Immunization Program is pleased to announce a new function of the Maine IIS,
ImmPact, called the AFIX Product. The AFIX Product has been developed to allow ImmPact to
perform provider level immunization rate assessments. These assessments are a key part of the Immunization Quality Improvement for Providers (IQIP), an initiative that aims to provide
continuous quality improvement measures to help providers strive for and achieve higher
immunization rates, as well as improve immunization practices.
The AFIX Product replaces immunization coverage rate reports. These reports can be
run for any age group, any selection of vaccine antigens, and for a variety of preselected immunization series. The AFIX Product calculates immunization rates in realtime, creates charts and tables, missed opportunities reports, missing immunizations reports, patient listings, invalid doses, and a report card.
The AFIX Product is now available on the ImmPact website under the Reports heading for all ImmPact user roles EXCEPT Limited Entry.
The training manual can be found on the User Resources page. For more information on this feature, please contact Clara Alvarez at (207) 287-4068.
Hepatitis B Shortage
Supplies of pediatric and adult hepatitis B vaccine from Merck will continue to be limited into 2020.
To supplement current vaccine availability, GSK will continue to make an increased amount of
pediatric hepatitis B-containing vaccine available, including both single-component vaccine (Engerix-B®) and combination vaccine (Pediarix®).
CDC has provided general guidance for pediatric hepatitis B vaccine and an implementation plan that provides options for giving vaccine during this time. For further guidance, click here.
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