National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) is April 24 – 30, 2022. Each year, NIIW highlights the positive impact of vaccination on the lives of infants and children — and it’s a priority once again this year to ensure that children stay on track for routine checkups and vaccinations following disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

On-time vaccination is critical to help provide protection against potentially life-threatening diseases. According to CDC research, parents consistently identify healthcare professionals as their most trusted source of health and immunization information. Research also shows that many parents make vaccine decisions before their babies are even born.

During NIIW, the Immunization Initiative encourages you to remind parents and pregnant women about the importance of on-time infant and childhood immunization. Please reach out to any patients who may have missed or delayed their routine well child visits and vaccinations — and encourage them to schedule these important appointments.

Check out the Resource Spotlight section of this newsletter for resources the can you utilize to support immunization during NIIW and beyond.

Thank you for all that you do to protect Massachusetts' children and adolescents against vaccine-preventable diseases!

Today (April 28), Moderna announced that it has submitted a request for emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273) in children 6 months to under 2 years and 2 years to under 6 years of age to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and that similar requests are underway with international regulatory authorities. The requests are based on a 25 μg two-dose primary series of mRNA-1273.

The EUA submission for children ages 6 months to under 6 years will be complete next week. Moderna also is currently studying booster doses for all pediatric cohorts.

The MDPH's Weekly COVID-19 Vaccination Report, April 19, 2022, notes that 56% of Massachusetts children aged 5-11, 86% of children aged 12-15, and 85% of children aged 16-19 have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The report details COVID-19 vaccination by county as well.

See the Resource Spotlight section of this newsletter for COVID-19 vaccination resources.

"Vaccination Coverage with Selected Vaccines and Exemption Rates Among Children in Kindergarten - United States, 2020-2021 School Year." was published in the April 22 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

Key report points:

On April 21, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory, "Recommendations for Adenovirus Testing and Reporting of Children with Acute Hepatitis of Unknown Etiology." CDC issued the HAN Health Advisory to notify clinicians and public health authorities of a cluster of children identified with hepatitis and adenovirus infection.

In November 2021, clinicians at a large children’s hospital in Alabama notified CDC of five pediatric patients with significant liver injury, including three with acute liver failure, who also tested positive for adenovirus. All children were previously healthy. None had COVID-19. Case-finding efforts at this hospital identified four additional pediatric patients with hepatitis and adenovirus infection for a total of nine patients admitted from October 2021 through February 2022. A possible association between pediatric hepatitis and adenovirus infection is currently under investigation.

The Health Advisory serves to notify US clinicians who may encounter pediatric patients with hepatitis of unknown etiology to consider adenovirus testing and to elicit reporting of such cases to state public health authorities and to CDC. Nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT, e.g. PCR) is preferred for adenovirus detection and may be performed on respiratory specimens, stool or rectal swabs, or blood.

Additional resources:

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (MDPH) Immunization Division presents free updates on immunization-related topics for health care professionals every spring. MDPH is pleased to announce the 2022 Immunization Updates:

Registration for the updates will open soon. The updates will be held via webinar (no in-person sessions). The updates are free of charge; pre-registration is required. Additional details will be posted as they become available here.