(1 of 11)
February 3, 2006
CDC RELEASES DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER ON RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT PERINATAL HEPATITIS B VIRUS TRANSMISSION

[The following is cross posted from the Immunization Action Coalition's "IAC EXPRESS" electronic newsletter, 1/30/06.]

On January 18, CDC released a Dear Colleague letter intended for healthcare and public health professionals who provide care to pregnant women and infants. The letter succinctly summarizes the updated ACIP recommendations for hepatitis B that prenatal care providers, delivery hospitals, newborn care providers, and health departments should follow to prevent perinatal and early childhood hepatitis B virus transmission.

In addition, the letter includes information about an Internet conference on the updated recommendations. The conference is scheduled for February 2 from noon to 1PM ET.

To access the letter, which was signed by the directors of CDC's Division of Viral Hepatitis and Division of Immunization services, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/acip/HBVinfant_dearcolleague.pdf

To access complete updated recommendations (including Appendix A, B, and C) in ready-to-print (PDF) format, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5416.pdf

To access the body of the updated recommendations in web-text (HTML) format, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5416a1.htm

To access Appendix A (Case Finding and Management of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen [HBsAg]-Positive Persons During Delivery of Vaccination Services) in web-text (HTML) format, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5416a2.htm

To access Appendix B (Immunization Management Issues) in web-text (HTML) format, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5416a3.htm

To access Appendix C (Postexposure Prophylaxis of Persons with Discrete Identifiable Exposures to Hepatitis B Virus [HBV]) in web-text (HTML) format, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5416a4.htm

To access information about the Internet conference, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/ed/ciinc/hepatitisb.htm
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(2 of 11)
February 3, 2006
CDC POSTS HEPATITIS CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS ONLINE

CDC's Division of Viral Hepatitis (DVH) has posted presentations from December's National Viral Hepatitis Prevention Conference on their website. Go to http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/partners/nvhpc_monday.htm to access Monday's presentations. Links to the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday presentations are available at the top of the page. Each day's web page includes descriptions of the plenary and workshop sessions and links to related PowerPoint presentations.
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(3 of 11)
February 3, 2006
NIP WEBSITE POSTS THE 2006 CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENT IMMUNIZATION SCHEDULE AND LINKS TO RELATED MATERIALS

[The following is cross posted from the Immunization Action Coalition's "IAC EXPRESS" electronic newsletter, 1/9/06.]

On January 6, the NIP website posted the 2006 Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule in a variety of formats. Also posted are links to additional information, such as changes made to the schedule since its last release, and related documents, such as an interactive child's immunization schedule.

To access the 2006 Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule and links to associated material, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/recs/child-schedule.htm
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(4 of 11)
February 3, 2006
CDC ISSUES INTERIM VIS FOR HEPATITIS A VACCINE

[The following is cross posted from the Immunization Action Coalition's "IAC EXPRESS" electronic newsletter, 1/17/06.]

On January 9, CDC posted an interim VIS for the hepatitis A vaccine. The interim VIS takes into account the licensing of hepatitis A vaccines for children 12 months and older. CDC will issue the final VIS for hepatitis A vaccine after MMWR publishes the ACIP recommendations. Until then, healthcare providers should give patients the interim VIS before administering the vaccine.

OBTAINING THE INTERIM VIS FOR HEPATITIS A VACCINE
Please note that the interim VIS (dated 1/9/06) is currently available only in English.

To obtain a ready-to-copy (PDF) version of the interim VIS for hepatitis A vaccine from the NIP website, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/vis/vis-hep-a.pdf

To obtain it from the IAC website, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/v-hepa.pdf

For VISs in a total of 33 languages, and for information about the use of VISs, visit IAC's VIS web section at http://www.immunize.org/vis
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(5 of 11)
February 3, 2006
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THOSE PLANNING ON ATTENDING ACIP MEETINGS

[The following is cross posted from the Immunization Action Coalition's "IAC EXPRESS" electronic newsletter, 1/17/06.]

In order to expedite the security clearance process at the CDC Clifton Road campus, all Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) attendees must now register online. This rule includes all CDC participants as well as all visitors. The registration forms for upcoming meetings can be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/nip/ACIP/dates.htm

All non-U.S. citizens are required to register at least three weeks in advance of an ACIP meeting (e.g., for the February 21–22 meeting, the latest registration date allowed would be January 25, 2006). Non-U.S. citizens will not be allowed to register on site. In addition to registering online, foreign attendees must also complete an additional document. To obtain this form, email Dee Gardner at dgardner@cdc.gov or call (404) 639-8836.

As a reminder, the next ACIP meeting will be held Tuesday, February 21 and Wednesday, February 22, 2006. For more information, go to: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/acip
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(6 of 11)
February 3, 2006
MMWR LIST OF EXAMS AVAILABLE FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT INCLUDES THREE RELATED TO IMMUNIZATION AND VIRAL HEPATITIS

[The following is cross posted from the Immunization Action Coalition's "IAC EXPRESS" electronic newsletter, 1/23/06.]

CDC published "MMWR Continuing Education Exams Available for Credit" in the January 20 MMWR. It lists 19 exams for which health professionals can receive continuing education credit.

Three exams relate to immunization and viral hepatitis:

(1) A comprehensive immunization strategy to eliminate transmission of hepatitis B virus infection in the United States: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Part 1: Immunization of infants, children, and adolescents (expires 12/23/08)

(2) Prevention and control of meningococcal disease: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) (expires 5/27/08)

(3) Guidelines for laboratory testing and result reporting of antibody to hepatitis C virus (expires 2/7/06)

To access a listing of all available exams, go to:
http://www2a.cdc.gov/ce/availableactivities.asp

To access a ready-to-print (PDF) version of this issue of MMWR, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5502.pdf
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(7 of 11)
February 3, 2006
UPDATED TRANSLATIONS: REVISED IAC PATIENT-EDUCATION BROCHURE ON HEPATITIS B NOW AVAILABLE IN VIETNAMESE AND CHINESE

[The following is cross posted from the Immunization Action Coalition's "IAC EXPRESS" electronic newsletter, 1/30/06.]

IAC recently posted on its website the updated Vietnamese- and Chinese-language versions of its patient-education brochure "If you, your parents, or your children were born in any of these places. . . ." The updated brochure, which was revised in September 2005 to reflect new treatment options for chronic hepatitis B virus infection, had been available only in English. IAC gratefully acknowledges the California Department of Health Services for the translations.

To obtain the updated Vietnamese-language version of the brochure in ready-to-print (PDF) format, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4170vn.pdf

To obtain the updated Chinese-language version of the brochure in ready-to-print (PDF) format, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4170ch.pdf

To obtain the updated English-language version of the brochure in ready-to-print (PDF) format, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4170ref.pdf

To obtain it in web-text (HTML) format, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4170.htm
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(8 of 11)
February 3, 2006
APAMSA'S NATIONAL HEPATITIS B WEEK SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 20–26

The Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA) is a national organization that aims to address issues important to Asian Pacific Islander American medical students. APAMSA is sponsoring National Hepatitis B Week March 20–26, with a theme of breaking the hepatitis B cycle.

The goal of National Hepatitis B Week is for all APAMSA chapters to educate medical students and local community members about the burden of hepatitis B in the Asian Pacific Islander community. For more information, please go to APAMSA's web page at http://www.apamsa.org/programs4.php or email hepatitis@apamsa.org
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(9 of 11)
February 3, 2006
WHO PUBLISHES THE DECEMBER 2005 MEETING REPORT OF THE GLOBAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON VACCINE SAFETY

[The following is cross posted from the Immunization Action Coalition's "IAC EXPRESS" electronic newsletter, 1/23/06.]

On January 13, the WHO publication Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) published "Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety [GACVS], 1-2 December 2005." An expert clinical and scientific advisory body, GACVS deals independently and with scientific rigor with vaccine safety issues of potential global importance.
It held its thirteenth meeting December 1-2, 2005.

The WER article summarizes some of the issues meeting attendees considered, including the following vaccine safety and policy issues: (1) the Vaccine Safety Net Project; (2) safety issues associated with pandemic influenza vaccines; (3) safety of adjuvants; (4) rotavirus vaccine safety; (5) subacute sclerosing panencephalitis and measles vaccination; (6) chronic fatigue syndrome and hepatitis B vaccination; and (7) conjugate meningococcal vaccine and Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

To access a ready-to-print (PDF) version of the January 13 issue, go to: http://www.who.int/wer/2006/wer8102.pdf
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(10 of 11)
February 3, 2006
HEPATITIS B VACCINATION TO BE INCLUDED IN INDIA'S NATIONAL IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM

At the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) partners' meeting in December, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, India, announced that the Indian government has decided to integrate hepatitis B vaccination into the national immunization program. Monovalent hepatitis B vaccine will be used initially.
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(11 of 11)
February 3, 2006
SIGN UP FOR FEBRUARY CONTINUING EDUCATION CONFERENCE CALLS

The New York University Post-Graduate Medical School and Lenox Hill Hospital are jointly sponsoring a continuing education program for physicians and other healthcare professionals involved in the care of HBV-infected patients. The program consists of five one-hour conference calls, led by Danny Chu, MD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Son Do, MD, past chairman, National Task Force on Hepatitis B, Focus on APIA; and Steven Han, MD, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Participants can sign up for one or more calls. Dates include February 7, 8, 13, and 15. For more information, call Jessica at (646) 674-4885.