We Are Thankful For You

We would like to express our gratitude to all the providers enrolled in the Childhood Vaccine Program (CVP). Your hard work and dedication to prevention ensures that children in Washington are healthy and protected. We appreciate everything you do to keep Washingtonian children healthy every day. 

Holiday Shipping Calendar

As a reminder, with the holidays upon us, please be mindful of shipping delays, limited or no shipping days and plan your vaccine orders accordingly. December 7th is the latest date you can submit a vaccine order in order to receive the delivery before January. You can place an order off your typical schedule if needed. Please ensure your accountability reports are up to date prior to placing orders to ensure expedited processing. It's also a good idea to update your shipping hours in your provider agreement if needed. Check out the holiday shipping calendar on our website for more information.

Inclement Weather

Fall and Winter is a good time to review your Vaccine Emergency Plan which is located in your Vaccine Management Plan. Please include any staff members that may need to respond to an emergency vaccine situation in your planning. You can also view our recent Childhood Vaccine Program Training Series on Inclement Weather and Emergency Transport Plan.

Here are some things to remember when your facility loses power:

1. Do not open your storage units.
2. Place a “DO NOT OPEN” sign on the vaccine storage unit(s) and leave the door(s) shut to conserve cold air.
3. Notify the emergency contacts on your Emergency Plan.
4. Note the time the outage started and document storage unit temperatures (ROOM TEMP,CURRENT, MIN & MAX).
5. Assess the cause of the power failure and estimate the time it will take to restore power.
6. Take appropriate action for any temperature excursions following the Temperature Excursion Guide. Bag the vaccines and mark them “DO NOT USE” until you contact the manufacturers to determine viability.
7. If temperatures near out-of-range conditions, or for outages that extend beyond the current business day, transport vaccines to the alternate storage facility using the Emergency Transport Guide. Monitor temperatures throughout transport and report any excursions.

Please reach out to the Childhood Vaccine Program if you have questions or need help with follow-up after a temperature excursion.

Webinar Opportunities with Continuing Education

CDC Flu Webinars

• 2022-2023 Recommendations for Influenza Prevention and Treatment in Children: An Update for Pediatric Providers
• 2022-2023 Seasonal Influenza Testing and Treatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

CDC Pink Book Webinar Series

All of the one hour videos are now available, covering an overview of vaccination principles, general best practices, and specific information about each vaccine-preventable diseases and the vaccines that prevent them. Continuing education is available for watching each video.

No mixing, no diluting: FDA licenses new Rotarix liquid formulation

On November 4, FDA licensed a new formulation of Rotavirus Vaccine, Live, Oral (Rotarix, GSK). The new formulation is free of porcine circovirus and comes as a liquid that does not require mixing or dilution. Both the lyophilized (requires reconstitution) and liquid rotavirus vaccine presentations will remain in use until the lyophilized formulation is used up or expires.

Related Links

• FDA: Rotarix approval letter (PDF)
• FDA: Package insert for Rotarix (PDF)
• FDA: Rotarix main page

For questions about the immunization schedule, the Immunization Information System forecast, or any other immunization clinical questions, please send an email to ImmuneNurses@doh.wa.gov. Check out the Immunization Training web page for more resources and training opportunities.