 Join us on January 9th at noon for a training focused on the new Vaccine Coordinator Training that will replace the CDC's You Call the Shots (YCTS) in 2025. This training is comparable to the YCTS training content with the addition of Washington State Vaccine Program specifics. It will cover all the important information needed to participate in Washington’s Childhood and Adult Vaccine Programs.
Primary and back-up vaccine coordinators must complete this annual training requirement within the current calendar year, prior to their provider agreement renewal deadline. It is also best practice to have all staff who handle and administer vaccines complete the training as well.
We are working on getting continuing education credits for nurses, medical assistants, and pharmacists/pharmacy techs. Stay tuned for more details.
 The Adult Vaccine Program now has some new and updated documents available as resources for providers. These documents are the same for both the Adult Vaccine Program and the Childhood Vaccine Program. You can also find this information on the Adult Vaccine Program's Website.
Vaccine Storage Unit Guide (PDF): This guide shows federal and Washington State requirements for vaccine storage units.
Thermometer Requirements Guide (PDF): This guide highlights the different types of thermometers available and identifies those that comply with the Washington State Adult Vaccine Program.
Vaccine Temperature Excursion Guide (PDF): Use this guide in the event of a temperature excursion.
Guide for Using the Provider Portal in REDCap: The provider portal is a landing page that allows the submission of temperature logs, reporting excursions, and submitting follow up information requested by the program in one place.
EligibilityPubliclyFundedVaccinesGuide.pdf: To ensure the appropriate source of funding is used for purchasing vaccines, providers are required to screen and document each patient’s eligibility status at every immunization visit. This document provides guidance on choosing the correct patient eligibility status, the related Immunization Information System (IIS) coding, and general billing guidelines for children and adults receiving publicly supplied vaccine.
 VBI Vaccines, the manufacturer of the Hep B vaccine, PreHevbrio, declared bankruptcy and is ending business operations. PreHevbrio is no longer being distributed. Customers with the product are asked to destroy or return remaining doses. The recall is not related to vaccine safety or quality. All properly administered doses of PreHevbrio are valid Hep B vaccinations and do not need to be repeated.
If you have PreHevbrio or have questions about it, visit www.prehevbrio.com for additional information and guidance.
Adults with an incomplete PreHevbrio vaccination series can complete their series with Heplisav-B, Engerix-B, or Recombivax-HB. For a guide to completing a mixed-product vaccination series, see the table in Immunize.org’s Ask the Experts: Can You Show the Options of How to Complete Adult Hepatitis B Vaccination with Different Vaccine Products?
 The 2025 immunization schedules are now available. Check out the Schedule Changes & Guidance as well as other helpful resources such as the Vaccine Catch-Up Guidance resources.
ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) recommends Hepatitis B vaccination for all adults 19-59 years, including pregnant persons. On September 11, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved updates to the package insert for Heplisav-B [HepB vaccine (recombinant), adjuvanted] after data were available to suggest no increased risk for birth defects and miscarriage. Providers can now administer Engerix-B, Heplisav-B, Recombivax HB, or Twinrix to pregnant persons needing HepB vaccination. More information can be found in the Updated Recommendation for Universal Hepatitis B Vaccination in Adults Aged 19–59 Years—United States, 2024.
 The webinar recording is now available: Current Vaccine Recommendations & Preventing Vaccine Administration Errors | Washington State Department of Health. Continuing education credit is available for nurses, medical assistants, and pharmacists/pharmacy techs who watch the recording. We also want to make sure you’re aware that Immunize.org recently updated this helpful resource: Don't Be Guilty of These Preventable Errors in Vaccine Administration!
 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.
WA DOH (Department of Health) has discovered that doses of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) in the WA Immunization Information System (WAIIS) on or after 04/01/2016 may have been incorrectly entered as trivalent OPV (tOPV)). In April 2016, all OPV-using countries switched routine polio vaccination from tOPV to bivalent OPV (bOPV), which contains vaccine for only types 1 and 3 polioviruses. Monovalent OPV (mOPV) is also used during an outbreak response.
As a result, the ACIP recommended schedule says doses of OPV administered on or after 04/01/2016 should not be counted. For the polio series to be evaluated correctly in the WAIIS, OPV doses given on or after 04/01/2016 should be documented as bOPV or OPV-unspecified so they are not counted as valid in the series completion. In mid-December of 2024, WA DOH will begin changing doses incorrectly documented in WAIIS as tOPV to OPV-unspecified to ensure that the doses are correctly evaluated by the WAIIS forecaster. This could result in new patients being forecasted as needing additional polio vaccine.
Please vaccinate these patients with additional doses of IPV according to the Immunization Schedules | Vaccines & Immunizations | CDC. Additionally, please ensure that your facility is correctly documenting OPV doses on or after 04/01/2016 as bOPV or OPV-unspecified. Only OPV doses before this date should be documented as tOPV. For more information, please see this Quick Reference Guide PolioVaccineDocumentationInTheWAIIS. Questions about this change can be directed to ImmuneNurses@doh.wa.gov.
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