Vaccine Resources: VISs Updates, Shingles Awareness, and Adolescent Study Opportunity

VIS updates

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released updated versions of the Vaccine Information Statements (VIS) for HPV-9 and meningococcal (ACWY) vaccines. Although the content changed minimally, healthcare providers should always use the most recent versions:

• HPV-9 — current version is dated 3/31/16.
• Meningococcal (ACWY) — current version is dated 3/31/16. 

Shingles awareness

The National Foundation of Infectious Diseases (NFID) recently released a new shingles awareness campaign. The intended audience is people 60 years and older and caregivers of those individuals. The campaign includes the following tools:

• Video and quiz
• Fact sheet
• Compendium of additional resources

Adolescent study opportunity

The Unity Consortium is still seeking pediatric practices to participate in their Three Cs study, Pursuit of the Three Cs: Confident, Concise and Consistent Health Care Provider Recommendations for Adolescent Vaccines.

To qualify, practices must:

• Be a single specialty pediatrics practice with moderate to high volume of adolescent visits.
• Have at least five providers (may include NPs and/or PAs).
• Have agreement to participate from at least 90 percent of the providers in the practice.
• Be in a setting in which participating providers work at least 60 percent FTE and spend at least 70 percent of their time in direct patient care. They also must have been practicing between two and 25 years.
• Utilize electronic health records that allow for generating blinded vaccination data and rates by provider.

Additionally, practices cannot be based in a hospital or academic center or reside in Illinois, North Carolina, Rhode Island or Utah (because of recent changes to adolescent vaccination mandates).

If you are interested, please contact Denise Lewis from Unity Consortium at denise@inkleinconsulting.com.