Pearls Fall 2022
| Dane County Immunization Coalition Updates General Membership Meeting Mark your calendars! Our next general membership meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 15, 2022 from 12pm to 1:30pm. Watch your email in the coming weeks for the agenda. Grand Rounds 2022 Save the date! Grand Rounds will be held virtually on December 15, 2022 at 7:30am. Stay tuned for topic and speaker information. Immunization Updates Bivalent COVID Vaccines Now Approved for Patients 5 years of age and older Both Moderna and Pfizer have new bivalent formulations of their vaccines. Pfizer has made two formulations: a “gray cap” version approved for patients 12 years of age and older and an “orange cap” version for patients 5 through 11 years of age. Moderna has made just one bivalent vaccine and it approved for patients 6 years of age and older. Patients 6 through 11 years of age get a 0.25 ml dose while patients 12 years if age and older get 0.5 ml dose. Remember that minimum spacing between these new boosters and the last dose of COVID vaccine is 2 months. Check the CDC website for the most up-to-date information regarding dosages, timing, formulations, and more. Monkeypox Use Expanded The monkeypox vaccine, JYNNEOS, is now available to Wisconsinites who meet any of the following criteria, including people who have had a known sexual partner diagnosed with monkeypox, people who attended an event or venue where there was known monkeypox exposure, gay men, bisexual men, trans men and women, any men who have sex with men, and gender non-conforming/non-binary individuals, who have had or expect to have multiple or anonymous sexual partners. Please see the Wisconsin DHS website for the most current recommendations. Health Equity DHS is Hosting Shared Learning Forums on Advancing Health Equity These sessions are held on the second Friday of every month from noon to 1 pm and are open to anyone across Wisconsin. Each session features a community leader sharing experiences, barriers, practices, and lessons learned for advancing health equity. To register, click here. If you miss one, you can view the recordings here. Promoting Immunization COVID Vaccines and Pregnant People Experts in fertility, maternal care, and public health strongly urge all individuals who are pregnant now or are wanting to have children in the future to get a COVID-19 vaccine.Several studies looking into the safety and effect of vaccines on fertility and pregnancy have all shown that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe for people who are pregnant, or who want to have a child in the future. There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause fertility problems in women or men. Pregnant people are at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19, and getting sick from COVID-19 infection when pregnant can cause preterm birth, stillbirth, and other pregnancy complications. Learn more at the Wisconsin DHS Covid-19 Vaccine Fertility webpage. Vaccine Track Provides Data on Uptake of Adult Vaccines Vaccine Track is a new website that displays state and national trend data on use of vaccines recommended for U.S. adults. The site shows vaccination trends to help inform and achieve clinical and public health efforts to reach Healthy People 2030 immunization objectives. Promoting Vaccination in Children and Teens It is back to school time and CDC has updated their website with resources to promote vaccination in children and teens, including how to navigate conversations with parents and caregiversGet Your Flu Shot!It’s that time of year. Flu season looks to be shaping up to be a rough one so get your flu shot! Montgomery County, (Pennsylvania) Immunization Coalition has created Say Boo to the Flu and COVID Too! social media images and sample text to make it easy for you to get the word out about the importance of getting flu and covid shots. In the Media New videos focus on diseases Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has a video series that focuses on diseases that are vaccine preventable with the goal of offering parents and other viewers information about diseases they likely have never seen because vaccines have made them less common. Find out more about the series, “Doctors Talk Diseases,” including which other disease-specific videos will be produced, or check out the YouTube playlist.The Vaccine Hesitant MomentNew England Journal of Medicine published a review article, The Vaccine-Hesitant Moment, which talks about the importance ofkeeping vaccine conversations ongoing to identify and address emerging concerns early. |