Vaccines: Honest Answers. Informed Decisions.

With all of the questions about vaccines circulating, HIC is conducting a one-day conference forum to discuss vaccination issues in an informed environment.  Our Keynote Speaker will be Patsy Stinchfield, RN, MS, CPNP.  Patsy is a pediatric nurse practitioner and director of Infectious Disease and Immunology at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota who earned the American Nurses Association Immunity Award and was honored during National Infant Immunization Week for her work to preserve and protect the health of children through immunization.

Registration for this exciting conference will begin in June on this website. 

This activity has been submitted to the Washington State Nurses Association Continuing Education Approval & Recognition Program (CEARP) for approval to award contact hours. The Washington State Nurses Association Continuing Education Approval & Recognition Program (CEARP) is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

This activity has been submitted to the Hawai’i Pharmacists Association for approval toward Continuing Pharmacy Education hours (CPE). The Hawai’i Pharmacists Association is accredited as an approved provider of continuing pharmacy education by the Accreditation Counsel for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).

“Most parents today have never seen first-hand the devastating consequences that vaccine-preventable diseases can have on a child, a family, or community. Thanks to vaccines, many of these diseases are not common in the U.S., but they persist around the world.  That’s why we need to remind parents that immunizations are still the best way to protect their children from 14 vaccine-preventable diseases and to continue to encourage parents to follow CDC’s recommended immunization schedule.  We also need to provide parents with resources to meet their information needs about  diseases and vaccines.”

Go to www.pkids.org or the CDC’s new vaccines for children website!

Vaccines provide one of the most effective means of ensuring the health and survival of children. Read about how vaccines make a world of difference at the American Academy of Pediatrics Immunization website or their press release.    

The Hawaii Immunization Coalition partners with the Hawaii American Academy of Pediatrics to increase infant immunization rates in Hawaii.

On February 1, HIC met with many supportive members of the pediatric community at the annual Hawai`i Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics  Conference, “Timely Topic in Pediatrics: How to Vaccinate When Parents Hesitate”.   HIC Board Members were able to engage many of the medical professionals who work with keiki and parents to discuss many immunization topics from vaccine hesitancy to legislation.

Mahalo to AAP and Hawai`i Pacific Health for welcoming us to their conference!

For more photos, check out our Facebook page!

On January 23, the American Academy of Pediatrics released the first study to evaluate adolescent hepatitis A coverage in the United States using provider reported vaccination data.

Hepatitis A coverage was low among adolescents, leaving a large population susceptible to hepatitis A infection maturing into adulthood.  Read more here!

ATLANTA — More parents are opting out of school shots for their kids. In eight states now, more than 1 in 20 public school kindergartners aren’t getting all the vaccines required for attendance, an Associated Press analysis found.  That growing trend among parents seeking vaccine exemptions has health officials worried about outbreaks of diseases that once were all but stamped out.  To read the whole article, click here.

Many of the pediatric deaths and critical illnesses in the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic occurred among children who acquired antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in addition to being infected with that flu virus, a study in the journal Pediatrics reports. To read an article in the Washington Post about the findings, click here.

“Viral Hepatitis: Combating the Silent Epidemic in Hawaii” HIC Membership Meeting on October 26th at Outrigger Canoe Club

Hawai‘i has the highest rate of liver cancer in the United States, and one of the leading causes of liver cancer is vaccine-preventable hepatitis B. “Viral Hepatitis: Combating the Silent Epidemic in Hawaii” was presented by the Co-Directors of Hep Free Hawaii, Heather Lusk (from the CHOW Project) and Thaddeus Pham (from the Department of Health).  The workshop also included Vaccine Update 2011 by Maricel Abad, a Public Health Nurse with the Department of Health.

To view the slides from the presentation, click here.