518: Vaccination Conversations, Respiratory Disease Forecast

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Thursday, October 5, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

FATIMA DAWOOD: 

Many studies have shown that health care providers' recommendation for flu vaccination is one of the strongest predictors of parents and caregivers' willingness to get a vaccine for their child.

JOHNSON: 

Public health and health care providers are getting ready for another busy season of COVID, RSV, and flu infections. Of course, vaccinations are key to preventing serious illness, but uptake is always a challenge. Dr. Fatimah Dawood in the CDC's influenza division says there's an easy way to begin conversations with patients.

DAWOOD: 

CDC has developed the SHARE method which is a pneumonic to help guide providers to make a strong vaccine recommendation and provide important information to help patients make informed decisions about vaccination.

JOHNSON: 

Dawood says every letter represented in the SHARE method has a purpose.

DAWOOD: 

So, the essence SHARE stands for 'share' the reasons why flu vaccine is right for the patient based on their age, their health status, and other factors. The H stands for 'highlight' as in, highlight positive experiences that you've personally had or perhaps you've had in your practice with flu vaccination, and that helps reinforce the benefits and strengthen confidence in getting a flu vaccine.

JOHNSON: 

Finishing the SHARE pneumonic, Dawood continues...

DAWOOD: 

The A stands for 'address' as in address patient questions and concerns about flu vaccines. The R stands for 'remind us' and 'remind patients' that flu vaccines help protect them and their loved ones from serious flu illness and complications like hospitalizations or even death. And lastly, the E stands for 'explain,' explain the potential risks of getting flu, including potentially serious health effects for the patient, but also the risks of time lost at school or at work and the potential spreading flu to other vulnerable family members or friends.

JOHNSON: 

The CDC recently produced a webinar on its influenza prevention and treatment recommendations for pediatric providers. You can watch a recording of the presentation using the link in the show notes.

Public health is building systems to predict future disease outbreaks. As part of that, Dr. Dylan George says the CDC has released a new forecast for the upcoming respiratory season.

DYLAN GEORGE: 

What it says is, we expect we will likely see a similar number of total hospitalizations compared to what we saw last year. That means we expect the upcoming fall and winter respiratory season will generate more peak hospitalizations than in the pre-pandemic seasons.

JOHNSON: 

Due to this additional impact of COVID-19, George says the outlook is based on expert judgment scenario modeling and historical data.

GEORGE: 

We started putting this together by polling experts, including modelers, and subject matter experts for each of the diseases. We wanted to hear their views on potential trajectories for these viruses in the fall. These discussions involve experts within CDC and other parts of CDC. And within the Center for Forecasting Outbreak, inside and outside experts as well.

JOHNSON: 

He says the CDC is on a mission to improve real time analysis and forecasting for COVID-19.

GEORGE: 

And we are producing regular forecasts and working to improve these predictions through integrating past data on COVID-19 and trying to understand the seasonal variation in epidemic timing and magnitude and a handful of other things. We're also working on a handful of other tools like RTS estimates, and other things that will help us anticipate growth of outbreaks going forward.

JOHNSON: 

Learn more about the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics and see the work using the link in the show notes.

Also today, communities with a lower socioeconomic status may have a greater exposure to harmful chemicals due to nearby industrial sites or inadequate waste disposal practices in their areas. A new ASTHO brief considers the role of social stressors like these in chemical risk assessments. You can read the brief using the link in the show notes.

Finally, this morning, relationships and community connections are part of the STRETCH initiative described in a new ASTHO blog article now online. The CDC Foundation, ASTHO, and the Michigan Public Health Institute support state teams and their community partners as they explore new ways to advance health equity. Read about the project or apply to become part of a new STRETCH cohort using the links in the show notes.

We'd also like to remind you to follow this newscast on your podcast player and ASTHO on so social media. We're on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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.