Put AAFP, CDC Influenza Resources to Work for You

National Influenza Vaccination Week, or NIVW, is right around the corner -- Nov. 26-Dec. 2 -- and the Academy, CDC and other organizations are pulling out all the stops to help ensure that you and your patients are able to take full advantage of this season's record tally of influenza vaccine.

CDC officials put this season's estimated vaccine complement at 132 million doses. With influenza activity often peaking as late as February, FPs have plenty of time to immunize their patients -- and themselves -- against this seasonal scourge, which affects between 5 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. population in an average year.

According to a letter that began mailing this week to Academy members, your first stop for information and materials on influenza immunization should be AAFP's "Immunization Resources" Web page. The letter, co-signed by AAFP President Jim King, M.D., of Selmer, Tenn., and Board Chair Rick Kellerman, M.D., of Wichita, Kan., reminds FPs that the single most important factor contributing to a patient's decision regarding immunization is his or her physician's recommendation.

"We urge you to take advantage of this as you see your patients, whether for management of chronic disease, an acute problem, or for preventive care," says the letter. "Ample influenza vaccine is available this year, and your recommendation will have impact even into the New Year."

Along with the letter, the mailing includes a "Clinical Recommendations for Immunization" document listing various immunization resources available on the AAFP, CDC and other organizations' Web sites, as well as links to PDF versions of standing orders for administering influenza vaccine to children, adolescents and adults. Also included is a four-color, laminated copy of the 2007-08 Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule jointly produced by the AAFP, the CDC, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American College of Physicians, and a colorful flyer reminding health care workers about the importance of keeping their own immunizations up-to-date.

After all, King and Kellerman note in their letter, "Immunization of health care workers protects not only the worker but also those around them. For example, influenza can be transmitted to patients and co-workers from an infected person 24 hours before symptoms appear."

Here are some of the resources you can download from the CDC's Flu Gallery; many are available in multiple languages:

There's also a CDC Influenza Awareness Campaign: Media Toolkit available online, as well as NIVW Public Service Announcements, all designed to help raise public awareness of this year's influenza immunization message: "Don't Get Flu. Don't Spread Flu. Get Vaccinated."

There is cause to be optimistic about the current influenza season, not the least of which is the relatively low level of influenza activity reported to the CDC to date. As of week 45 of the 2007-08 season (Nov. 4-10), the overall level of influenza activity in the United States was low, with three states reporting local activity, 21 states and the District of Columbia reporting only sporadic activity, and 26 states reporting no activity.

Other good news for the current season:

Visit the CDC's Flu Web site for more on specific influenza vaccine supply issues for the 2007-08 season.

Another positive note this season, says Kellerman, who chairs the Academy's Influenza Task Force, is the lack of reports from Academy members who haven't received influenza vaccine they ordered. That dearth of complaints can likely be traced to the work done by that AAFP task force in collaboration with CDC and other officials, representatives of the National Influenza Vaccine Summit, vaccine manufacturers and distributors, and other stakeholders.

"I think the AAFP can claim some success on this by bringing to manufacturers and distributors the importance family physicians place on preventive services in general and on the influenza vaccine specifically," Kellerman observes.

"With that said," he adds, "the influenza vaccine is still a biologic agent, with year-to-year antigenic drift and the potential for antigenic shift, as well the vagaries of growing the virus in eggs to produce the vaccine."