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Welcome to the Vaccines for Respiratory Illnesses Newsletter! Here you'll find the latest news and information on respiratory illness vaccine related topics.
- Latest News
- Clinical Updates
- Training and Events
- Resources
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Expect a brief pause from this newsletter during the holiday season. Our next edition will be sent out on January 10th, 2025. In the meantime, protect everyone at your holiday table by getting vaccinated for the flu and COVID-19!
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A: Tdap given during pregnancy is highly effective at preventing pertussis (whooping cough) in infants. It is, by far, the best way to minimize the risk of pertussis hospitalization during baby’s first months of life.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evaluation found Tdap vaccination during the third trimester of pregnancy prevents 78% of pertussis cases in infants younger than 2 months of age. These findings are similar to other studies from the United Kingdom and the United States that suggest that vaccinating the mother during pregnancy is highly effective at protecting infants against pertussis.
When infants do get pertussis, their infection is less severe if the pregnant person received Tdap during pregnancy. A CDC evaluation found maternal vaccination is 90% effective at preventing infant hospitalization from pertussis. The 2-minute video is available at Immunize.org’s YouTube channel, along with their full collection of quick video answers to popular Ask the Experts questions.
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The CDC has published preliminary in-season estimates of COVID-19 -related illnesses, outpatient visits, hospitalizations, and deaths and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)-related outpatient visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in the United States. CDC also updated preliminary estimates for 2024-2025 flu season burden and severity.
- An estimated 17,000–34,000 people were hospitalized with RSV during October 1–November 30, 2024.
- An estimated 64,000–110,000 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 during October 1–November 30, 2024.
- An estimated 9,900–22,000 people were hospitalized for flu during October 1–November 30, 2024.
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A new CDC study reports that almost 50% of deaths among patients who were hospitalized with influenza over 9 flu seasons occurred within 30 days of hospital discharge. The findings suggest that the true burden of influenza on mortality in the US may be greater than previously estimated.
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The CDC has released the 2025 Childhood and Adult Immunization Schedules with the latest recommendations for each routinely recommended vaccine.
The 2025 immunization schedules are available on CDC’s health care provider webpage, which includes parent friendly schedules.
The Department of Health (DOH) has the state school and childcare immunization requirements charts for the 2024-2025 school year on our website and will publish the 2025-2026 charts soon.
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We have received questions about administration of nirsevimab for babies born outside of the respiratory season. Here’s more information and references to guide nirsevimab administration for these babies.
CDC currently recommends Abrysvo vaccine for pregnant people at 32 0/7 weeks’ through 36 6/7 weeks’ gestation between September through January. Vaccinating a pregnant person in February or March for an infant born in April or May will provide that infant limited protection during the RSV season since protection from maternal vaccination wanes over time.
Instead of giving Abrysvo to pregnant people whose babies will be born after the RSV season, providers are recommended to administer nirsevimab ideally in October for a baby born from April-September OR at birth if the baby is born between October-March. Administer nirsevimab only if the baby didn’t previously get nirsevimab and the pregnant person wasn’t administered Abrysvo. The infant would be better protected by receiving nirsevimab just before or at the start of the RSV season.
References:
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Providing a translation along with the current English Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) reduces barriers to important vaccination information for people whose preferred language is not English. At Immunize.org, locate VIS translations by clicking on the “Vaccines & VISs” tab. Then click on “VISs” and select a specific vaccine. Scrolling down the resulting page, you will see:
- The current English VIS (the official federal version)
- A list of VIS's in other languages
- If applicable, a list of out-of-date translations, that is, translations of past English versions that are still usable because they are the most recent translations available in those languages
Immunize.org posted three new and updated translations of COVID-19 and RSV VISs:
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Registration for the Pertussis Updates Webinar held on December 5, 2024 was full, but those who are interested can now view the recording that is available on our web page. Continuing education credit is available for nurses, medical assistants, and pharmacists/pharmacy techs who watch the recording.
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This two-part talk will deepen participants' psychological understanding of the factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy, introduce practical ways to integrate core Motivational Interviewing (MI) concepts, and engage in practice opportunities to apply MI skills in patient encounters. This training will take place on December 16th and 19th at 10am PDT.
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We are excited to announce that the CDC’s Pink Book Training: The Epidemiology & Prevention of Vaccine Preventable Diseases course is coming to Washington state!
Please Save the Date for this exciting in-person event:
When: June 2-4, 2025
Where: Tacoma, WA
This event is hosted by WithinReach in partnership with the Washington State Department of Health. Registration and conference details are coming soon to immunitycommunitywa.org, but we encourage you to mark your calendars till then.
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FOR SCHOOLS AND CHILD CARE FACILITIES
FOR LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES
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If you aren't already signed up for Vaccines for Respiratory Illnesses Newsletter, please visit the Department of Health's email subscribers page here. Once you enter your email, on the next page expand the Immunization topic, select Vaccines for Respiratory Illnesses Newsletter, and click submit.
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This newsletter summarizes content beginning the week of December 3rd, 2024 and was sent out on December 13th, 2024. |
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