You're Invited: Celebrating the Power of Providers!

Due to your remarkable efforts to vaccinate Washingtonians against COVID-19, our state has the 6th highest COVID-19 bivalent vaccination rate in the nation!

Please join us at the “Celebrating the Power of Providers” virtual event on Wednesday July 19, 2023, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The event will recognize the outstanding progress you’ve made, working in many different health care roles and specialties, to promote vaccinations and save lives against COVID-19 and feature:

• Words of appreciation from Governor Jay Inslee and Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah.
• Provider highlights over the past 2 years of the pandemic.
• Words of inspiration from Dr. Kira Mauseth on recognizing our collective achievements.

Register for the event here.

CVP Training on July 20th

Please join us on Thursday, July 20th for another session in the CVP Training Series. This month you can learn more about off-site clinics, moving clinics, and some vaccine ordering tips. We look forward to another great session and hope to "see" you there! 

Date: July 20, 2023

Time: 12:00 pm (noon)

Topic: Ordering Tips, Clinic Moves, Off-Site Clinics

Intended Audience: Providers and Vaccine Coordinators

• Join the Training Session
• Meeting ID: 838 2693 4901
• Passcode: 807405

As always, you can watch and re-watch any recorded sessions on our webpage.

Changes to the WAIIS Vaccination View/Add Page for COVID-19 Vaccines

Monovalent Pfizer-BioNTech, monovalent Moderna, and Janssen/J&J COVID-19 vaccine products will no longer appear in the main menu of vaccines on the WA IIS ‘Vaccination View/Add’ page. To access these vaccines for IIS direct data entry, IIS users can locate these products from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the ‘Vaccination View/Add’ vaccine list. This change has no effect on electronic submissions of vaccination data through an EMR to IIS HL7 interface connection. Click here for more guidance on adding, editing, and deleting vaccinations directly in the WA IIS. If you have questions, please reach out to iis.training@doh.wa.gov.

Additional resources:

• Ask the Experts: Experts Answer Questions About Vaccines (immunize.org)
• ACIP Vaccine Recommendations | CDC
• IIS Training Materials Portal | Washington State Department of Health
• Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines | CDC

Important Message From the IZ Express

Close the gap! Back-to-school vaccine catch-up programs should start now, and continue all summer long.

The most important way you can respond to pandemic-related declines in routine vaccination is to support and encourage back-to-school routine vaccination catch-up campaigns this summer.

CDC data show that kindergarten vaccination coverage steadily declined for all vaccines over the past two school years from 95% to 93% nationally and by as much as 10% in some jurisdictions. This is the lowest kindergarten routine vaccination coverage nationally in the last decade. In 2022, several communities experienced measles outbreaks where children were hospitalized. Another community reported a case of paralytic polio in an unvaccinated person. These events underscore that too many under-and unvaccinated children are at risk for serious illness.

You can act now to address this critical gap among children in your practice and your communications. 

Resources:

CDC MMWR: Vaccination Coverage with Selected Vaccines and Exemption Rates Among Children in Kindergarten — United States, 2021–22 School Year

Need to Update Your Provider Agreement?

If you need to update your CVP Provider Agreement in the IIS, please email or call us to request we return it to you for updates. You do not need to add a new provider agreement in the IIS to make updates. 

Immunization Training Courses with Continuing Education

Summary of ACIP meeting on June 21-23

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met on June 21–23. Some highlights from the meeting:

The Committee voted on recommendations for the use of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and polio vaccines in adults, PCV20 (Prevnar 20, Pfizer) in children, and influenza vaccination for the 2023–2024 season. The Committee also received updates on RSV vaccine use in pediatric/maternal populations, as well as meningococcal and COVID-19 vaccines. Details are available in presentation slides posted on the ACIP website. Even though ACIP voted on these recommendations, the final ACIP Vaccine Recommendations need to be published before providers can start implementing these recommendations.

RSV vaccine in older adults

• In May, FDA licensed two RSV vaccines (Arexvy, GSK, and Abrysvo, Pfizer) to prevent RSV disease in adults age 60 years and older. ACIP voted to approve a single dose of RSV vaccine for adults age 60 and older with shared clinical decision-making. Considerations for vaccination:  comorbid conditions and advanced age, in addition to other variables.

Polio vaccine in adults

ACIP voted on these recommendations for adults:

• Adults known or suspected to be unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated against polio should complete a primary series with IPV.
• Adults who received a primary series of trivalent OPV or IPV and are at increased risk may receive another dose of IPV.

Pneumococcal 20-valent conjugate (PCV20) vaccine in children

ACIP approved recommendations for use of PCV20 in children under 18 years.

ACIP vote:

• If they received at least 1 dose of PCV20: No additional pneumococcal doses needed.
• If they received PCV13 or PCV15 (but no PCV20): give one dose of PCV20, or PPSV23
  • Use either PCV15 or PCV20 for all children age 2 through 23 months

• For older children with an incomplete PCV vaccination, use either PCV15 or PCV20 
• For children 2 through 18 years with any risk condition who have received all recommended doses before age 6 years
• For children 6 through 18 years with any risk condition who have not received any pneumococcal vaccine, give a single PCV20, or PCV15 followed by a dose of PPSV23 at least 8 weeks later, if not previously given.

RSV vaccine—pediatric/maternal (information)

FDA is considering a vaccine (Pfizer) for the mother and a long-acting monoclonal antibody (mAb, nirsevimab, Sanofi) for the infant. There may be a vote at the October ACIP meeting or earlier if a special session is held.

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.