Hepatitis Awareness Month

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month! Hepatitis impacts tens of thousands of people in Minnesota. Now is a great time to promote testing for hepatitis B and C, as well as vaccination for hepatitis A and B. CDC recommends all adults be screened for HBV and HCV at least once during their lifetime and pregnant persons during each pregnancy. For more information visit Hepatitis.

Adolescent Health Month: Promote on-time and catch-up adolescent immunization

May is Adolescent Health Month. To celebrate, remember to keep recommending all routine vaccines, including COVID-19, to adolescents. Preliminary data for 2023 shows that there is an increase in 13-year-olds who are up to date on their Tdap and MenACWY school-required vaccines. This is a result of health care and public health efforts to get kids caught up on the vaccines they missed during the pandemic. Check-out Pediatric Immunization Gaps due to COVID-19 Pandemic for more statewide and county-level childhood and adolescent vaccination coverage data. HPV vaccination coverage rates continue to lag compared to the other routinely recommended vaccines for 11- to 12-year-olds. Visit Minnesota Public Health Data Access Portal: Adolescent Immunizations for more adolescent vaccination coverage data.

While there has been tremendous progress since the pandemic to recover adolescent immunization rates, there is still a lot of work to do to continue increasing coverage. Our Teens Need Vaccines, Too! and Well-child Visits and Immunization are resources to support your continued adolescent immunization efforts.

Vaccine protocol updates

We are working to update our vaccine-specific templates for administration orders or protocols into a new format. All current Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended vaccine schedules have been reviewed. Other than being in the new format, most of the protocols are unchanged or have minor changes.  When the updated protocols are posted, we will create and share a list of significant changes. Since most of the changes are minor you can wait to use these updated protocols until you need to have them signed next by your medical director.

Influenza protocols are not included in these updates. These will be reviewed and updated in late summer or early fall. The pneumococcal protocols were recently updated but we anticipate changes in recommendations at the June ACIP meeting and will make additional updates once the MMWR is published. 

The protocols are in final review, we hope to post them by the first week of June. Please let us know if you notice any typos/errors by sending an email to [email protected]. Remember these are templates, you may make changes as needed to make applicable to your specific situation. Protocols, guidance for adopting vaccine protocols, and a sign up to receive email updates are found at Vaccine Protocols.

Updated Vaccine Information Statements (VIS)

The hepatitis B and pneumococcal conjugate (PCV) vaccine information statements (VIS) were updated on May 12 and can be found on CDC: Current VISs. Begin using these updated VISs immediately. Both have an interim status but should be used until the final version is available. Printed stock of the previous editions may be used until exhausted.

MIIC spring webinar series

The four-part MIIC webinar series ended on May 17. MIIC staff covered several aspects of MIIC including an introduction to MIIC, understanding client immunization records, getting data in and out of MIIC, and MIIC tools to increase immunization coverage. To view the webinar recordings, visit MIIC User Guidance and Training Resources.

MIIC postcards coming soon to a child near you

In June, we will be sending reminder postcards to families of children 12-months-old (as of Jan. 1) who are overdue or recommended for a vaccine. This may increase calls for immunization visits. We encourage providers to spread the word about the postcards to clinic staff and make sure they have enough vaccine on hand. If you have any questions, contact the MIIC Help Desk at [email protected].

Help eligible Minnesotans keep their public insurance

The Department of Human Services (DHS) is asking you to remind patients and families to make sure they have had their public health insurance reviewed and renewed. Annual renewals were paused during the pandemic and are restarting now.

Enrollees must complete the renewal process to keep their insurance and avoid gaps in coverage. More information at DHS: Overview: Resuming public health care program renewals. Resources created for clinics and community partners to communicate these changes (including translations) can be found at DHS: Communication toolkits for partners.

Click Here for more information.