California Area Office - Immunization

Immunization

The California Area Indian Health Service is committed to maintaining and improving the quality of health care services that are provided by the California Area tribal and urban programs. One goal of the CAIHS is that each of these programs will meet or exceed the "Healthy People 2020" adult and childhood immunization targets by FY 2020.

This site has been developed for tribal and urban program health professionals to provide information about vaccine preventable diseases, the benefits of immunizations, the risk of disease verses the benefit of immunizations, and other educational resources and materials.

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to some of the most commonly asked questioned about adult and childhood immunizations and vaccine preventable diseases.

Resources

Contains a variety of information for immunization professionals, including downloadable forms, previous California Immunization Reports, and Guidelines for the RPMS Child Immunization Package.

News & Announcements

On September 4, 2013, the CDC released recommendations for patient care and public health practice during the continued nationwide shortage of tuberculin skin test (TST) antigen solutions.

Public health officials are urging all health care providers to educate families about the dangers of pertussis and to immunize all pregnant women between 27 and 36 weeks with Tdap. The Calif. Dept. of Public Health offers this article for your review and action.

Please consider visiting the following link for the MMWR article "Vaccination Coverage Among Children in Kindergarten - United States, 2012 - 13 School Year":

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6230a3.htm?s_cid=mm6230a3_w

The slides from the IHS 2012-2013 Flu Kick Off are posted on the IHS flu website, under the Educational Resources link: www.ihs.gov/flu . Please review this up-to-date guidance to inform immunization practice related to “Seasonal Influenza” vaccination. Weekly reports from the IHS Influenza Awareness System will be posted at www.ihs.gov/flu beginning October 12th.

Memo from Dr. Susan Karol, IHS CMO, on the importance of vaccinations (PDF 725KB) This public health message emphasizes the importance of ensuring high immunization coverage for all IHS patients as protection against vaccine-preventable disease and its spread to members of their communities who may not be fully protected.

Pentacel Vaccine Supply Limits Continuing into 2013 (Link to State of Cal. PDF 130KB). September 2012 letter from Dr. John Talarico, provides guidance to Vaccine for Children (VFCP Providers on this vaccine shortage.

Learn more about the RPMS BI Immunization Module version 8.5 from the user manual (PDF 850KB). California Area databases are updated by the California Area IT Staff as patches become avilable.

The recording and PowerPoint slides from the IHS webinar on Successful Strategies to Increase Flu Vaccination is now available on the IHS flu website (www.ihs.gov/flu), under "Educational Resources".

A list of RPMS training events hosted by the California Area IHS Office can be found on our calendar under the News & Events section of our web page and on the IHS OIT RPMS training website.

NIVW Resources

2011-2012 Influenza Season has officially arrived! The following are just a few of the many sites that offer Seasonal Flu related information:

Useful Provider Resources for Seasonal and H1N1 Influenza:

California Department of Public health H1N1 Influenza

Vaccination of health-care workers (HCWs) has been shown to reduce influenza infection and absenteeism among HCWs, prevent mortality in their patients, and result in financial savings to sponsoring health institutions. Influenza vaccination coverage among HCWs in the United States, however, remains low. Please visit the following link for resources:

DHHS - Health Care Personnel Initiative to improve Influenza Vaccination Toolkit