Vaccine Resources: HPV Resources, Shingles Vaccine Administration Errors, and Influenza Season Summary

HPV resources

Videos, tips and timesavers are some of the HPV-related resources the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released or updated:

• Dr. Margot Savoy is featured in a YouTube video series that includes seven short clips related to how she interacts with patients and families with questions or concerns about HPV vaccination.
• Top 10 Tips for HPV Vaccination Success and Talking to Parents about HPV Vaccine offer ideas for providers when approaching HPV vaccination in practice.
• Two parent resources are also available in the form of an infographic and a list of reasons to get their child vaccinated against HPV.

Shingles vaccine administration errors

Two types of shingles vaccine are now available — the live, attenuated (designated ZVL) and the newer, recombinant (designated RZV). The vaccines differ not only in type, but also in how they are supplied, how they should be stored, route of administration, number of doses and schedules. The CDC published a useful summary table in the May 25, 2018, MMWR (67(20); 585-6) for keeping track of these differences. In addition, the publication summarized common administration errors that were reported during the first four months in which RZV use was monitored. Eight percent of VAERS reports involved one or more administration errors. The most common error reported was incorrect route of administration.

Check out the report for other errors and to access the summary table.

Influenza season summary

The CDC recently published a summary of influenza-related illness and activity during the 2017-2018 season in the MMWR (June 8, 2018. 67(22):634-42).

Here are some of the findings:

• The recent season was considered to be a high-severity season.
• Influenza type A (H3N2) predominated although beginning in March, infections with type B (primarily Victoria lineage) increased.
• Antibiotic resistance was low.
• Hospitalizations were higher than in previous years.
• As of June 1, 2018, 171 pediatric deaths were reported; this number increased to 174 after publication. The most recent data can be found using the FluView application.
  • The number of children who succumbed to influenza or related complications is higher than that of the last three consecutive seasons.
  • About half of these children had no underlying medical conditions that would put them in a high-risk category.
  • Almost 60 percent were school-aged (5 – 17 years old).