Happy New Year to You

Wishing you and yours a happy new year! We are grateful for your partnership and look forward to continuing our work together immunizing the children in Washington State.

CVP Provider Training Series

Join us for the next session in the Childhood Vaccine Program (CVP) Provider Training Series. The topic will cover the vaccine returns process and vaccine loss policy. Please use the link below log in to the session.

Date: January 19, 20222 

Time: 12:00 pm (noon)

Topic: Review of Returns Process, Vaccine Loss Policy 

Intended Audience: Providers and Vaccine Coordinators 

• Join the Training Session
• Meeting ID: 882 4118 7819
• Passcode: 645152

Updated Storage Unit Policy in Effect

This is a friendly reminder that the vaccine storage unit policy for childhood vaccines is officially in effect this year. Household combination storage units are no longer allowed for storing publicly funded childhood vaccines. All combination storage units should have been replaced to stand alone storage units in 2022. Please review our Vaccine Storage Unit Guide and reach out if you have any questions to WAChildhoodVaccines@doh.wa.gov.

Vaccine Choice Update

We are still working diligently to identify and create new order sets from our recent vaccine choice period. We recognize that the process is taking longer than it has in the past.

At this time, we do not have a set date on when the order set changes will be complete, but it is one of our top priorities at this time.

Thank you for your patience during this lengthy process.

Please Keep Administering Flu and COVID-19 Vaccines!

Influenza activity is currently high in Washington. As of December 18-24, 2022, there have been 93 deaths (4 children and 89 adults). Flu vaccine appears to be a good match to the circulating virus strains, but flu vaccinations are behind compared to past years. In December, CDC published Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza Coinfection and Clinical Characteristics among Children and Adolescents Aged <18 Years Who Were Hospitalized or Died with Influenza—United States, 2021–2022 Influenza Season. According to the report, flu and COVID-19 coinfections in children can cause more severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths. Preliminary data from the 2021–2022 flu season show COVID-19 coinfections occurred in 6% of pediatric flu-associated hospitalizations and 16% of pediatric flu-associated deaths. More than 80% of hospitalized children with a coinfection were not vaccinated against flu and only 53% received flu antiviral treatment. 

Use the Washington DOH Knock Out Flu Toolkit to promote flu vaccine for your patients.  CDC’s flu webpages are also a great resource for more information on flu vaccine, testing, antiviral drugs, and infection control.

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.

PINs are Essential

Please include your specific PIN (Provider Identification Number) on everything you send in. The PIN is your 6-digit number specific to your clinic in the Childhood Vaccine Program and it helps us respond to your inquiries in a timely manner.