Vaccine News Alert

Back to School

The new school year is just around the corner.  This is an opportunity to discuss all vaccines, in addition to those that are required for school. Please offer your patients 6 months and older the COVID-19 vaccine and flu vaccine (or refer them for vaccination) if they haven’t already been vaccinated. 

Discuss ALL adolescent vaccines, those that are routinely recommended (Tdap, HPV, Men ACWY) and the availability of the MenB vaccine.  If your adolescent patient has not received BOTH the MenACWY and MenB vaccines, he or she is not fully vaccinated against the most common form of bacterial meningitis among adolescents and young adults. Providers are encouraged to consider initiating the MenB series when the second dose of MenACWY is given.

Here is the link to school requirements: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/immunization/requirements/

Updates

Domestic Measles Outbreak   As of April 2, CDC reports 1,671 confirmed measles cases in the first quarter of 2026. In comparison, throughout 2025, 2,286 measles cases were reported in the United States. So far, 32 states reported measles cases in 2026. Virginia has reported twenty cases of measles in 2026, eleven of which are among children 0-4 years of age.  Here is a link to Virginia specific measles resources: Virginia Department of Health - Measles   Vaccination Coverage - MMWR March 26, 2026 CDC published Vaccination Coverage by Age 24 Months Among Children Born in 2021 and 2022—National Immunization Survey-Child, United States, 2022–2024 on March 26 in MMWR. Key points from the abstract appear below. Declines in coverage of 1–2 percentage points were observed for childhood vaccination with Hib, the birth dose of HepB, ≥4 doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, and rotavirus vaccine Coverage with at least two doses of influenza vaccine by age 24 months decreased substantially from 61.0% among children born during 2019–20 to 53.5% among those born during 2021–22, and varied widely by jurisdiction Coverage was substantially lower among VFC program–eligible children than among those who were not VFC-eligible and varied widely by jurisdiction Compared with non-Hispanic White children, coverage with many vaccines was lower among non-Hispanic Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino children; coverage was highest among non-Hispanic Asian children Coverage was lower among children living in poverty and those living in more rural areas Virginia’s vaccination coverage for children aged 24 months remains high overall, but modest declines are observed across most vaccines when comparing 2019–2020 to 2021–2022 birth cohorts.   Work is needed to improve coverage to address these declines and disparities in early childhood vaccination. Improving coverage among groups and in areas in which rates declined will more effectively protect children from vaccine-preventable morbidity and mortality.   Access the MMWR article in HTML or PDF     Respiratory Season Nationally, the amount of acute respiratory illness causing people to seek health care is very low.   RSV activity started later than expected in most regions of the United States, though illness is not more severe compared with recent seasons. Emergency department visits in Virginia for RSV are low and decreasing.  Community viral activity in Virginia for RSV is very low (measured through wastewater testing).    COVID-19 activity is low in most areas of the country.   Influenza activity continues to decrease. Influenza A activity is low across all regions and influenza B activity continues to trend downward.

Immunization Quality Improvement Program (IQIP) Corner

Curious about your practice’s immunization rates?  Your VFC consultant can run your rates, share improvement strategies, and assess your progress throughout the year.  

Please reach out to your VFC consultant or to Stacy.Leman@vdh.virginia.gov for more information.

Vaccine Order Management System (VOMS) Office Hours

VOMS Office Hours are 9:00-10:30am on Friday mornings. Providers can sign up for office hours to ask questions or get assistance with VOMS. The sessions are informal and monitored for the entire session for your convenience. Providers can join any time during the session as their schedule allows. 

New LMS users: create your own user account in the LMS using step-by-step self- registration instructions available here.

Existing LMS users: A step-by-step guide on how to navigate quick reference guides and training on the LMS is available here.

⭐ Gold Star Awards (Feb 1 - March 31, 2026)

Outstanding VVFC Compliance

Carilion Children’s Pediatric Medicine, Daleville

Carilion Clinic Family Medicine, Giles

Fredericksburg Christian Health Center, Fredericksburg

New River Valley Pediatrics, Radford

Physicians to Children, Roanoke

Sentara Community Care Center, Harrisonburg

Stone Mountain Jonesville Fam. Health Center, Jonesville

Tri-Area Community Health, Laurel Fork

Wythe Physicians on the Ridge, Wytheville

Adult Vaccine Update

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month

The month of May is designated as Hepatitis Awareness Month in the United States. This observance serves as a time to raise awareness about hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C while encouraging testing, vaccination, and timely treatment. During May, CDC and our public health partners work to shed light on the impact of these hidden epidemics by raising awareness of viral hepatitis while encouraging testing and vaccination. Hepatitis Awareness Month activities help to improve everyone’s understanding of viral hepatitis transmission and risk factors and to decrease social stigma against viral hepatitis. CDC’s Hepatitis Awareness Month Social Media Toolkit is located here: https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-awareness/social-media-toolkit/index.html

Virginia Vaccines for Children (VVFC) Virginia Vaccines for Adults (VVFA)

1-800-568-1929  |  vvfc@vdh.virginia.gov

Manage Preferences  |  Unsubscribe  |  Subscriber Help