Dear Immunization Colleagues,

I hope that your summer has been enjoyable.

The August 2024 newsletter is jam-packed with information and updates! Please take a few minutes to review the newsletter for information about educational activities and events, news from our partners, and resources that can be utilized to promote immunization in your practice.

Please contact me if you have any questions or need additional information.

Thank you for all that you do to help Massachusetts residents stay healthy!

Best regards,

Cynthia

Cynthia McReynolds

cmcreynolds@mcaap.org

Program Manager, MCAAP Immunization Initiative

Co-Facilitator, Massachusetts Vaccine Confidence Project

Registration is Open!

29th Annual MIAP Pediatric Immunization Skills Building Conference

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

DCU Center, Worcester, MA

Click here to visit the conference website!

The 29th Annual Massachusetts Immunization Action Partnership (MIAP) Pediatric Immunization Skills Building Conference, will be held as an in-person conference on Wednesday, October 30, 2024. The Conference will be held at the DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts.

The MIAP Conference Planning Committee is delighted to announce this year's Plenary Session presenters:

• Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, MPH, Your Local Epidemiologist
• Andrew Kroger, MD, MPH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Mary Beth Miotto, MD, MPH, FAAP, Massachusetts Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics
• Christy Norton, RN, PhD, CNM, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• Grace Ryan, PhD, MPH, UMass Chan Medical School
• Pejman Talebian, MA, MPH, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Breakout sessions also are planned. Click here to visit the conference website.

If you have any questions, please contact Cynthia McReynolds (cmcreynolds@mcaap.org).

2024 MIAP Conference Award

Nomination deadline: Friday, September 6, 2024

Each year, the Massachusetts Immunization Action Partnership (MIAP) recognizes Massachusetts individuals or groups that have made an outstanding contribution to pediatric immunization in Massachusetts. The recipient of this award is an individual or an organization that has demonstrated strong leadership, initiative, innovation, collaboration and/or advocacy. Nominations are now being accepted for this year’s MIAP Conference Award.

Would you like to nomination an Immunization Champion for this year's award? Click here to download a nomination form. The deadline to submit a nomination is Friday, September 6, 2024. The award will be presented at the 29th Annual MIAP Pediatric Skills Building Conference on Wednesday, October 30, 2024.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Cynthia McReynolds (cmcreynolds@mcaap.org).

August 2024

National Immunization Awareness Month

#ivax2protect

National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) is an annual event held each August. NIAM provides the opportunity to promote the importance and value of immunization across the lifespan. 

The disruption in well-child visits and routine immunization during the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect routine immunizations for children and adolescents. While routine vaccination coverage has rebounded, it has not yet recovered among all groups. Our community plays an essential role by ensuring that children are up to date on all recommended vaccines. You can help by identifying families whose children have missed recommended vaccines and contacting them to schedule vaccine appointments.

CDC's Communication and Print Resources offer immunization advocates graphics to share on social media platforms and websites to raise awareness around the importance of staying up to date on recommended vaccines. Include #Ivax2Protect with your social media posts to amplify your messages. 

Be on the lookout for #ivax2protect updates throughout August! If you have questions or are looking for specific resources for your practice, please contact Cynthia McReynolds (cmcreynolds@mcaap.org).

Please see the Resource Spotlight section of this newsletter for additional NIAM resources.

Upcoming Webinars

MCAAP Immunization Initiative Webinar Series

The 2024-2025 respiratory illness season will be upon us soon. As part its effort to promote the importance of immunization throughout the respiratory illness season, the MCAAP Immunization Initiative will be offering the following webinars:

Tuesday, August 27, 2024,12:00-1:00 PM

Pregnancy and Newborn Immunization During the 2024-2025 Respiratory Illness Season

Presenters:

Ai-ris Collier, MD, FACOG, Assistant Professor in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, Harvard Medical School, Co-Director, Clinical Trials Unit, Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Naima Joseph, MD, MPH, FACOG, Assistant Professor, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center;

Mary Beth Miotto, MD, MPH, FAAP, Immediate Past President, Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Click here for more information and to register for the August 25 webinar.

Tuesday, October 8, 2024, 12:00-1:00 PM

2024-2025 Influenza Season Update

Presenter: Lisa Grohskopf, MD, MPH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Click here for more information and to register for the October 8 webinar.

Click here for more information about the webinar series, including the Continuing Medical Education Accreditation Statement.

Additional webinars are being planned. Updated information about these webinars will be sent as it becomes available.

Vaccine Confidence Update

The Massachusetts Vaccine Confidence Project (MVCP) is a collaboration of the Immunization Division, Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), the Massachusetts Adult Immunization Coalition (MAIC), and the Massachusetts Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics (MCAAP). 

The MVCP’s mission is to increase vaccine confidence throughout Massachusetts to ensure that all residents are fully protected against serious, vaccine-preventable disease. This is accomplished through the development of educational activities and science-based resources and training materials for healthcare providers and the public, and collaboration with organizations which support immunization.

Recent MVCP Activities and Events:

• National Health Center Week (NCHW) was held last week. This annual event celebrates and increases awareness of America’s 1,400 Community Health Centers. 

• The Healey Administration proclaimed last week Massachusetts Community Health Center Week. Click here to read the proclamation.
• In recognition of NCHW, the MVCP sent Certificates of Appreciation to Massachusetts Health Centers.
• The MVCP exhibited at Baystate Brightwood and High Street Health Center Health Fairs.
• The MVCP thanks all health center staff for their dedication to the health and well-being of their communities!

• The Association of Immunization Managers (AIM) has announced the 2024 Immunization Champion Award Winners. 
• The Immunization Champion Award, hosted by AIM and funded by CDC, recognizes individuals doing an exemplary job or going above and beyond to promote or foster immunizations in their communities for children and adults.
• Congratulations to the Massachusetts recipient of the 2024 Immunization Champion Award, Theresa Covell, RN, BSN. Theresa is former Assistant Public Health Nurse at the Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment. Theresa was nominated for this award by the Massachusetts Vaccine Confidence Project. Click here to read the award announcement.
• From the award announcement: "Theresa goes above and beyond to reduce barriers that prevent people from getting vaccinations. More Barnstable County residents are vaccinated because of her dedication."
• Congratulations, Theresa, for being named the 2024 Massachusetts Immunization Champion Awardee!

• The August 2024 MVCP Newsletter just hit the presses! Click here to read the newsletter. Click here to sign up for future newsletters.

Click here to visit the MVCP website.

H5N1 Bird Flu and 2024-2024 Respiratory Illness Season Updates

Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Flu

CDC continues to monitor the multistate outbreak of avian influenza A(H5N1) virus, or "H5N1 bird flu," and posts a weekly update communicating its response activities. Click here to read the August 9 response update. The update notes that, "Since April 2024,13 human cases of avian influenza A(H5) virus infection have been reported in the United States. Four of these cases were associated with exposure to sick dairy cows and nine were associated with exposure to avian influenza A(H5N1) virus-infected poultry. Based on the information available at this time, CDC's current assessment is that the immediate risk to the general public from H5 bird flu remains low."

2024-2025 Respiratory Illness Season

In June, CDC recommended the updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccines and the updated 2024-2025 flu vaccines to protect against severe COVID-19 and flu this fall and winter.

CDC recommended that everyone ages 6 months and older receive an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the potentially serious outcomes of COVID-19 this fall and winter whether or not they have ever previously been vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine. Updated COVID-19 vaccines will be available from Moderna, Novavax, and Pfizer later this year. This recommendation will take effect as soon as the new vaccines are available.

CDC recommended that everyone 6 months of age and older, with rare exceptions, receive an updated 2024-2025 flu vaccine to reduce the risk of influenza and its potentially serious complications this fall and winter. CDC encourages providers to begin their influenza vaccination planning efforts now and to vaccinate patients as indicated once 2024-2025 influenza vaccines become available.

Updated 2024-2025 flu vaccines will all be trivalent and will protect against an H1N1, H3N2 and a B/Victoria lineage virus. The composition of this season’s vaccine compared to last has been updated with a new influenza A(H3N2) virus.

Ordering of state-supplied flu vaccine for the 2024-2024 Respiratory Season has opened in the MIIS. Click here to read the MDPH Vaccine Management Unit communication.

The complete COVID-19 and influenza recommendations will be published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The published recommendations are expected this month. Updates will be communicated as soon as they become available.

At its June 2024 meeting, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) confirmed that the original respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) recommendations, as published in 2023 in MMWR, apply for the 2024-2025 Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season. These state that all infants are recommended to be protected by either maternal RSV vaccination or nirsevimab for the 2024-2025 RSV season.

Resource Spotlight

National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM)

• NIAM graphics, CDC
• NIAM 2024 social media campaign, Voices for Vaccines
• Routine Immunizations on Schedule for Everyone (RISE) campaign, CDC
• Foster Support for Vaccination in Your Practice, CDC
• Parent-focused: 5 Ways to Help Your Kids Have a Healthy School Year (AAP, healthychildren.org)

Recently Published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)

• Health and Economic Benefits of Routine Childhood Immunizations in the Era of the Vaccines for Children Program — United States, 1994–2023. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). August 8, 2024 / 73(31);682–685.
• Mpox Surveillance Based on Rash Characteristics — 13 Emergency Departments, United States, June–December 2023. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). June 6, 2024 / 73(22);507–513.
• Real-Time Use of a Dynamic Model To Measure the Impact of Public Health Interventions on Measles Outbreak Size and Duration — Chicago, Illinois, 2024. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). May 16, 2024 / 73(19);430–434.

Bulletins and Newsletters

• Massachusetts Immunization Information System (MIIS) Monthly Update - August 2024, Issue 29
• MDPH Vaccine Program Update - August 2024
• AAP Immunization Initiatives Newsletter - July 2024

Upcoming Educational Activities, Events and Meetings

August 2024

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and partners

National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM)

Click here for more information.

Tuesday, August 27, 2024, 12:00-1:00 PM

MCAAP Immunization Initiative Webinar Series

Pregnancy and Newborn Immunization During the 2024-2025 Respiratory Illness Season

Presenters:

Ai-ris Collier, MD, FACOG, Assistant Professor in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, Harvard Medical School, Co-Director, Clinical Trials Unit, Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center;

Naima Joseph, MD, MPH, FACOG, Assistant Professor, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center;

Mary Beth Miotto, MD, MPH, FAAP, Immediate Past President, Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics

CME-CEU credits will be offered. Registration is free, pre-registration is required. Click here to register for the August 25 webinar.

Tuesday, September 24, 2024, 6:30 PM

MCAAP Immunization Initiative

MCAAP Immunization Advisory Committee Meeting

Massachusetts Medical Society, Waltham

If you are interested in attending this meeting, please email Cynthia McReynolds (cmcreynolds@mcaap.org).

Tuesday, October 8, 2024, 12:00-1:00 PM ET

MCAAP Immunization Initiative Webinar Series

2024-2025 Influenza Season Update

Presenter: Lisa Grohskopf, MD, MPH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

CME-CEU credits will be offered. Registration is free, pre-registration is required. Click here to register for the October 8 webinar.

Thursday, October 10, 2024, 4:00-6:00 PM

Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Massachusetts Vaccine Purchasing Advisory Committee Meeting (MVPAC)

Massachusetts Medical Society, Waltham, MA

October 23-24, 2024

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)

ACIP Meeting

Click here for more information.

Registration is open!

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Massachusetts Immunization Action Partnership (MIAP)

29th Annual MIAP Pediatric Immunization Skills Building Conference

DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts

Click here to visit the conference website.

On Demand Meetings and Recordings

MDPH/MCAAP/MMS HPV Webinar (CME)

Increasing Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Uptake in Massachusetts

Presenters: Lloyd Fisher, MD, FAAP, and Sherri Zorn, MD, FAAP. CME-CEU credit is available for completing the webinar. Click here to access the webinar.

MDPH

2024 MDPH Immunization Updates

The 2024 MDPH Immunization Updates webinar presentations and recordings can be found here.