 Thank you all for a successful flu prevention season!
We appreciate all your hard work and dedication to vaccinate kids to help lessen disease transmission.
We are at the end of the flu season. All vaccines, if they have not expired already, will expire at the end of this month. The CDC has contract requirements for shipping vaccine within a certain timeframe of the expiration date of a vaccine. We have entered that timeframe; therefore, flu order sets have been removed from all providers in the IIS.
*Reminder vaccines cannot be returned before their expiration dates, this includes flu vaccines.
If you've missed any of our monthly Childhood Vaccine Program (CVP) Provider Training sessions, you can view them on our training webpage here.
We host the training sessions on the third Thursday of each month. You can get the dates of future sessions, recordings of prior sessions and materials, and the Zoom link for the live sessions all on our training webpage.
If your facility plans to close for the summer, please visit our Facility Closure Policy on page 18 in your Vaccine Management Plan as it gives helpful tips and reminders on how to successfully close your facility depending on the length of time it'll be closed.
Reminders:
- Closures for 10 days or less require current and min/max temps be physically checked and recorded every 5 days at a minimum.
- Closures for 11-30 days and greater than 30 days require specific actions to ensure proper temperature monitoring is in place to safeguard the viability of vaccines.
 A new report shows routine childhood immunization rates decreased during the pandemic, dropping by 13% in 2021 when compared to pre-pandemic levels. The drop was most noticeable in young children. In response, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), health care providers and other agencies are working with families to catch up and stay current on routine immunizations. The DOH has implemented a variety of efforts to boost childhood immunization rates to pre-pandemic levels. Some of these efforts include direct messaging through the Watch Me Grow Washington program for parents with young children, improving equitable vaccine access and support for tribes, and collaboration with local public health.
Additionally, the DOH is mailing letters to parents of children ages 5 – 6 who are missing one or more of the immunizations needed to start school in the fall. Mailings were sent on or around June 9, 2022 and included data from the Immunization Information System (IIS) as of 5/31/2022. The letters will focus on only immunizations required to begin school and will list the specific vaccines that the child is due for. These letters will be sent to parents in English or Spanish as indicated by their IIS language preferences. Families can access their immunization records at MyIRmobile.com. If parents believe their child is up to date with all of their immunizations they should contact their health care provider.
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