Pediatric Alliance

Pediatric Alliance is excited to announce that we have added an additional Influenza product line for our members. Practices can now access discounts on Seqirus Influenza Vaccines including:

All products are currently still available for the 2021-2022 Influenza season. Being a member of Pediatric Alliance automatically entitles you to discounts on these products if you order directly from Seqirus at https://flu.seqirus.com. Fluad is for patients 65 years of age and older. Flucelvax is a cell derived egg free influenza vaccine with a totally different CPT code and different reimbursement. Please check with your payers. Contact Pediatric Alliance for a Price List.

As the CDC expands COVID-19 vaccination eligibility to anyone 16 years of age and older, pediatricians and family practice doctors are faced with a challenge. How to schedule catch up well visits around potential COVID-19 vaccination?

Some high schools are stepping up and offering COVID-19 vaccines to teens who are eligible while school is still in session. Some states seem to have surplus vaccine and appointments, but in general eligibility does not equal available appointments for vaccine everywhere. 

US national wellness visits dropped significantly in 2020-2021 compared to the 2017-2019 three year average across all age groups with adolescents being the most impacted. It is essential that we start getting those adolescents back in for well checks and catch-up vaccines. 

The CDC is currently recommending a 14 day minimum interval before or after COVID-19 vaccination and any other vaccine. (The only exception is a tetanus vaccination for a wound or other injury.) 

Studies for COVID-19 vaccination for younger age groups are currently underway.  It is anticipated that the Moderna vaccine could get an Emergency Use Authorization within weeks for 12 year to 17 year olds further complicating the picture. 

The following are suggestions on how to handle catch up vaccination in adolescents in light of impending COVID-19 vaccination:

• Consider scheduling all children under 16 years of age now for well visits and vaccination catch up before they are eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.
• If you know your school system is planning COVID-19 vaccination for teens 16 years of age and older, schedule their routine wellness visits over the summer. 
• If your school system is not vaccinating for COVID-19, determine availability in your community for COVID-19 vaccines and schedule routine follow up accordingly bearing in mind the 14 day interval. 
• Remind parents about the safety measures you continue to take in your office to keep them and their children safe. 

Vaccine news continues to be dominated by COVID 19. One of the big stories this week was that Moderna began testing its COVID 19 Vaccine in children and babies as young as 6 months. The study plans to enroll 6,750 children in the US and Canada. 

In a separate study Moderna is testing the vaccine in 3,000 children ages 12 to 17 years. While vaccination for children won’t be immediately available, they do expect to have results from the study by this summer. 

The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is already authorized for use in people 16 years of age and up, and they are currently testing the vaccine in children ages 12 to 15.

Johnson & Johnson also plans to test their Covid 19 vaccine in older children and then in babies and young children. 

In Britain AstraZeneca began testing its Covid 19 vaccine in children ages 6 and older. 

Of note, some European countries suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine temporarily after reports of blood clots in some recipients. There were 37 reports of blood clots out of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the EU and Britain. The World Health Organization and the EU’s European Medicine’s Agency say that the data doesn’t suggest  a link, and that the incidence of blood clots is actually lower in the vaccinated population than would have been expected in the general population. Investigation in ongoing and hopefully this will not derail European vaccine efforts. 

In the US Covid vaccine administration has has picked up and is now averaging 2.5 million doses a day. There are concerns about vaccine hesitancy that could impact our ability to reach herd immunity.

The news today is filled with talk about the Covid 19 Vaccination roll out. While there have been isolated incidences of anti-vaxxers interrupting vaccine administration, the overall consensus is that people want to be vaccinated and soon, especially those in high-risk groups.

While this is good for awareness about the benefits of vaccination in general, there are disturbing trends in the routine vaccination of children. The Covid 19 Pandemic in 2020 brought a significant drop in vaccine orders and administration.

There are estimates that around 9 million children may have missed routine vaccination by the end of 2020. That amounts to 26% fewer doses given than the previous year. Of particular concern is the risk of a measles outbreak due to how highly contagious it is. A potential measles outbreak may have been mitigated so far during the pandemic because of social distancing. That may change as restrictions loosen.

Additionally, the statistics on how many teens complete the recommended vaccines are startling. Only about one-third of teens complete the HPV series, Men ACWY and Tdap. Scheduling that 16 year old visit can greatly increase the chances that a teen will be fully vaccinated.