Vaccination Alliance of Connecticut
  • Home
  • Facts
  • Vaccination Hesitancy
    • Resources >
      • for Patients and Parents
      • for Healthcare Professionals
  • News
    • for Patients and Parents
    • for Healthcare Professionals
  • Join the Alliance
    • Members
    • Join
  • Spread the Word

News & updates for healthcare professionals

Routine Vaccination during the COVID-19 Outbreak

What is the status of the COVID-19 vaccine?
There is currently no licensed vaccine to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Research and development programs are underway in the U.S. and around the world to develop a vaccine that is safe and effective.

What does CDC advise about administering routine immunizations to children and teens when COVID-19 is circulating?
The COVID-19 pandemic is changing rapidly and continues to affect communities across the U.S. differently. Ensuring the delivery of newborn and well-child care, including childhood immunization, requires strategies to keep children safe. Healthcare providers in affected communities are using strategies to separate well visits from sick visits.

Examples include: 
  • Scheduling well visits in the morning and sick visits in the afternoon.
  • Placing patients with sick visits in different areas of the clinic or another location from patients with well visits.
  • Collaborating with other immunization providers in the community to identify separate locations for holding well visits for children.

Because of personal, practice, or community circumstances related to COVID-19, some providers may not be able to carry out well-child visits, including provision of immunizations, for all patients in their practice. If a practice can provide only limited well-child visits, healthcare providers are encouraged to prioritize newborn care and vaccination of infants and young children (through age 24 months) when possible.

Should infants born to women with hepatitis B virus infection (hepatitis B surface antigen-positive [HBsAg+]) be treated differently during the COVID-19 pandemic?
The prevention of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B virus infection requires timely vaccination and administration of hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) at birth, followed by completion of the hepatitis B vaccine series and post-vaccination serologic testing. Every effort should be made to complete the vaccination series on time. CDC has provided interim guidance for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B available at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/schedule-changes.html.

What does CDC advise about administering routine immunizations to adults when COVID-19 is circulating?
In areas with community transmission of COVID-19, vaccination visits should be postponed except when: 
  • An in-person visit must be scheduled for some other purpose and vaccination can be done during that visit without increasing the risk of COVID-19 exposure; or
  •  An individual patient and their clinician believe that there is a compelling need for vaccination based on an assessment that the potential benefit outweighs the risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19.
CDC recommendations about how to deliver immunizations to adults in areas with community transmission of COVID-19 may be updated regularly. Current guidance is available at this website:
www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/schedule-changes.html 

When COVID-19 is circulating, if I have the opportunity to vaccinate a child, teen, or an adult, should I administer only high priority vaccines, or should I administer all routine vaccines that are due at that visit?
You should continue to follow CDC’s best practice guidelines and administer all recommended vaccines simultaneously when no specific contraindications exist at the time of the visit. By administering all vaccines due at the visit, you will reduce the total number of healthcare encounters necessary for the patient to be fully vaccinated.

Some patients develop flu-like symptoms or fever after vaccination with recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV, Shingrix; GSK). Should I defer Shingrix vaccination because such a reaction might be confused with COVID-19?
 No. If you have an opportunity to vaccinate a patient age 50 years or older who is due for dose 1 or dose 2 of Shingrix, proceed with vaccination as usual. It is important to counsel the patient about the risk of self-limited side effects, including local reactions, such as redness, pain, or swelling at the injection site, and systemic reactions, which include fever, chills, headache, and body aches. If they occur, such side effects normally resolve within 72 hours after vaccination.  
Because of concerns about COVID-19, if a vaccine recipient develops fever after vaccination, they should stay home until it resolves. Shingrix vaccination does not cause respiratory symptoms common in COVID-19, such as cough or shortness of breath. If the vaccine recipient develops new symptoms of cough or shortness of breath, or if fever does not resolve within 72 hours of vaccination, the recipient should contact their healthcare provider. 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
 
  • IAC’s Repository of Resources for Maintaining Immunization during COVID-19 Pandemic 
  • Updated! CDC’s Information for Pediatric Healthcare Providers: Maintaining Childhood Immunizations during COVID-19 Pandemic web page
  • Vaccinate Your Family's Call, Don’t Cancel: Talking to People about Vaccinations during the COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Vaccinate Your Family's Raising Vaccination Rates during a Pandemic
  • CDC's Preparedness Tools for Healthcare Professionals and Facilities Responding to Coronavirus (COVID-19) gateway page, featuring “Delivery of Adult Clinical Preventive Services, Including Immunizations”
  • AAFP's COVID-19: Guidance for Family Physicians on Preventive and Non-urgent Care
  • AAP's Guidance on Providing Pediatric Well-Care During COVID-19 web page
  • MMWR's gateway page provides access to MMWR Weekly, MMWR Recommendations and Reports, MMWR Surveillance Summaries, and MMWR Supplements


Connecticut News​​​​​
​
  • Hartford Courant, May 22, 2020: On the, old adversaries agree: Connecticut must remove the religious exemption to vaccines
  • Journal Inquirer, May 7, 2020:  Vaccination is Essential
  • CT Mirror, January 14, 2020: Lawmakers set hearing on proposal to repeal state's religious vaccine exemption
  • NBC Connecticut, December 26, 2019: 1 New Flu-Related Death Reported in Connecticut
  • CT Insider, December 1, 2019: Norwalk student's flu death inspires mother to raise awareness
  • CT Post, November 6, 2019: There are 134 schools in Connecticut where the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine rate for kindergarteners falls below the federal recommendation rate. Parents and the community have good reason to be alarmed.
  • Hartford Courant, October 21, 2019: Data Show 134 Connecticut schools below recommended vaccination level for measles, a 31% increase from a year before
  • Press Release, October 21, 2019: Governor Lamont Says Decision to Release School Vaccination Data to the Public Is a Win for Transparency
  • Press Release, October 21, 2019: DPH Releases Updated School Immunization Data for 2018-2019 School Year; Data Show 134 Connecticut Schools have Vaccination Rates for Measles, Mumps and Rubella below Federal Guideline of 95%
  • CT Mirror, October 21, 2019: School-By-School Vaccination Rates in CT Released For 2018-19
  • CT Mirror, October 21, 2019: School-by-school vaccine data vital to moms of kids with compromised immune systems
  • CT Mirror, October 18, 2019: What is Connecticut's religious exemption from vaccines? Here are five things to know about the controversial provision
  • CT Mirror, August 12, 2019: Education group: Repeal the religious exemption from vaccination;
    Organization says health commissioner should also be able to weigh in
  • CT Mirror, July 15, 2019:  Republican legislator signs on to represent Bristol couple in vaccine lawsuit
  • CT Mirror, May 11, 2019: DPH Update: 109 Schools Below CDC Standard for Measles Vaccine; Hearing Set for Monday
  • Hartford Courant, May 3, 2019: School-by-school vaccination data show some Connecticut schools have high numbers of religious or medical exemptions
  • Press Release, May 3, 2019:  DPH Releases School-Based Immunization Data for All CT Public and Private Schools; 
    Data Show More than 100 Schools have Vaccination Rates for Measles, Mumps and Rubella Below Federal Guideline for Kindergarten of 95% 
National News

December 9, 2019
  • American Samoa to begin mass measles vaccination this week

November 1, 2019
  • Two new studies find that measles infection causes an extended period of immunosuppression, increasing the possibility of secondary infections

October 26, 2019
  • First influenza-related pediatric deaths for 2019–20 season reported
​
October 18, 2019
  • CDC publishes “Materials for the 2019–20 Influenza Season” highlighting some of its many resources for flu season
  • You're 16: We Recommend These Vaccines for You—patient handout

September 18​, 2019
  • California governor signs bills limiting vaccine exemptions.
  • CDC publishes "Notes from the Field: Interventions to Reduce Measles Virus Exposures in Outpatient Health Care Facilities—New York City, 2018" in this week's MMWR
  • IAC updates its educational resource "Influenza Vaccine Products for the 2019–2020 Influenza Season"
  • AAP and CDC are collaborating to present a free webinar titled "2019–2020 Recommendations for Influenza Prevention and Treatment in Children: An Update for Pediatric Providers" to be aired September 26
    ​
September 16​, 2019
  • DPH commissioner finds her voice on immunizations

September 11, 2019
  • Reason and responsibility in child vaccinations - Parents' duty extends to all children at risk of getting measles

September 5, 2019
  • The new edition of The Vaccine Handbook (The Purple Book) App is now available free of charge from the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.  The app may be found by searching the App Store for “The Vaccine Handbook App” or clicking on the following link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-vaccine-handbook-app/id1043246009?mt=8.
  •  Total number of U.S. measles cases for 2019 climbs to 1,234 with 19 new cases reported since last week.  CDC has posted its latest update on 2019 measles cases in the U.S. on its Measles Cases and Outbreaks web page. The web page shows a preliminary estimate of 1,234 cases across 31 states as of August 29. This is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1992 and since measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000.
  •  IAC's comprehensive Vaccinating Adults: A Step-by-Step Guide is available for free download either by chapter or in its entirety (142 pages).  The Guide is available to download/print either by chapter or in its entirety free of charge at www.immunize.org/guide. 

September 3, 2019
  • Get Vaccinated or Leave School: 26,000 N.Y. Children Face a Choice: Religious exemptions for vaccinations are no longer available. With the start of the school year, some parents face a reckoning.

August 27, 2019
  • Ending Religious Exemptions For Vaccines Upheld: A state Supreme Court judge on Monday upheld a law approved in June ending New York’s religious exemption for vaccinations, upholding a previous ruling in support of the measure.​

August 14, 2019
  • CDC Launches #HowIRecommend Vaccination Video Series
  • “Dear Colleague” letter stressing importance of 16-year-old immunization visit has been signed by AAFP, AAP, ACHA, ACOG, APhA, SAHM, and IAC​
  • August is National Immunization Awareness Month; promote vaccination with CDC resources
  • Total number of U.S. measles cases for 2019 reaches 1,182 with 10 new cases reported since last week
  • IAC Spotlight! IAC's Clinic Tools: Documenting Vaccinations web page provides resources from IAC, CDC, and other organizations

August 6, 2019
  • CDC releases “Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Measles in Healthcare Settings”
  • August is National Immunization Awareness Month! 
  • Total number of U.S. measles cases for 2019 climbs to 1,164 with 16 new cases reported since last week
  • The David J. Sencer CDC Museum requests items related to the study, control, and prevention of influenza or items of historical significance relating to influenza for their new show 
  • Register now! Dr. Sharon G. Humiston, IAC's associate director for research, will present a webinar on adolescent immunization and the 16-year platform on August 14 at 1:00 p.m. (ET)
  • Nominations open for the 2019 HPV Vaccine Is Cancer Prevention Champion Award
  • Help promote the legacy of Dr. Maurice Hilleman's work by nominating him for a Google Doodle
  • Still available! IAC’s sturdy laminated 2019 U.S. child/adolescent immunization schedules—order some for your exam rooms today! Bulk purchase prices available.
  • IAC's comprehensive Vaccinating Adults: A Step-by-Step Guideis available for free download either by chapter or in its entirety (142 pages)

Home

Vaccination facts

Resources

news & updates

connect

Vaccination Alliance of Connecticut - VaccinateCT.org
304 West Main Street  |  Suite 2, Box 305   |  Avon, CT 06001

​
Copyright © 2023, All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Facts
  • Vaccination Hesitancy
    • Resources >
      • for Patients and Parents
      • for Healthcare Professionals
  • News
    • for Patients and Parents
    • for Healthcare Professionals
  • Join the Alliance
    • Members
    • Join
  • Spread the Word