683: RSV Season Preps Underway, Tips to Build PH Trust

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, June 11, 2024. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

MICHELLE FISCUS: 

Nearly every baby under the age of two ends up getting RSV infection. Many of those babies get hospitalized especially in those first few months of life.

JOHNSON: 

A frightening reality that highlights the importance of new data from the CDC. Numbers released in March show the RSV immunization for infants is 90% effective. Good news for pediatricians like Dr. Michelle Fiscus, chief medical officer at the Association of Immunization Managers.

FISCUS: 

You know, if you think about the opportunity to prevent 90% of hospitalizations from the leading cause of hospitalization for infants, that is a tremendous opportunity to keep babies out of the hospital and, you know, just downstream from that, keep parents at work and keep babies at home where they should be.

JOHNSON: 

Preparations for the next RSV season are underway. Fiscus says one goal is to engage hospitals before the illness returns in the fall.

FISCUS:

AIM, The Association of Immunization Managers, is working with the American Hospital Association to try to find ways to get birthing hospitals on board with the Vaccines for Children Program so that they can administer [...] at the start of this season to babies, whether they have commercial insurance or whether they qualify for the Vaccines for Children Program.

JOHNSON: 

You can read more about the CDC data using the link in the show notes.

Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden says public health needs to take three steps to rebuild trust and communities, beginning with better communication.

TOM FRIEDEN: 

First off, communication is never as good as you think it is. Communication needs to be timely, accurate, and useful, using not just the right messages, but also the right messengers.

JOHNSON: 

Frieden also reminds us about the pros and cons of mandates.

FRIEDEN: 

Mandates should be rare, appropriate, based on the time and place, and led by local decision-makers. We shouldn't neglect or overlook the economic and social realities of mandates.

JOHNSON: 

And then he says agencies need to score what he calls quick wins.

FRIEDEN: 

Nothing succeeds like success. Public health needs to protect and improve health and to demonstrate that it's doing so in ways that people recognize and value that may be safer food and water, and air reduced risk of cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Addressing the horrific increase in overdose deaths.

JOHNSON: 

Frieden, now President and CEO of the nonprofit organization Resolve to Save Lives, says rebuilding trust in public health is a matter of life and death. You can read his article about all of this in Stat News, we've got the link in the show notes.

Illinois has a cottage food guide to help people in business and local health departments. It covers everything from starting a business to creating a food safety plan. Darrah Dunlap is the Food Protection Program Manager at the Illinois Health Department.

DARRAH DUNLAP: 

Throughout the guide, there's frequently asked questions and additional resources on how to register, labeling, creating food safety plans, through testing and starting and running a business.

JOHNSON: 

The guide works to educate entrepreneurs about safe food handling and production. Learning that Dunlap says can grow with the business.

DUNLAP: 

We kind of recognize cottage food as a launching point for many food businesses that eventually scale up to food establishments or manufactured food facilities. And the guide is really just intended to build a culture of food safety from the very beginning.

JOHNSON: 

Dunlap adds the guide's main purpose is to better explain complicated food regulations.

DUNLAP: 

We just want to break that down in simple terms for everybody so that they understand what they're jumping into and serving a new food business.

JOHNSON: 

The Illinois guide was released in 2022 and updated last year.

Finally this morning, Puerto Rico has an online dashboard to identify and address health equity concerns in their jurisdiction. You can read more about it using the link in the show notes.

Before we go a reminder also to follow this newscast on your podcast player and connect with ASTHO on social media. We are on LinkedIn, Facebook,and X.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.