{"id":17217,"date":"2021-02-24T19:38:41","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T19:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/?p=17217"},"modified":"2021-03-29T13:37:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T13:37:03","slug":"cdc_acip_testimony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/cdc_acip_testimony\/","title":{"rendered":"NCL testimony before CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices highlights Hep. B vaccine disparities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Media contact: National Consumers League \u2013 Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org<\/a>, (412) 945-3242<\/a>\u00a0or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org<\/a>, (202)\u00a0207-2832<\/a><\/p>\n

February 24, 2021<\/p>\n

NCL’s Associate Director of Health Policy Nissa Shaffi testified before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices today. Read her testimony.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 R. Romero, MD, FAAP, Chair
\nAdvisory Committee on Immunization Practices
\nCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
\n1600 Clifton Road, N.E., Mailstop A27
\nAtlanta, GA 30329-4027<\/p>\n

RE: Docket No. <\/strong>CDC-2021-0008<\/strong>; Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Good Afternoon. I am Nissa Shaffi and I will be presenting public comment on behalf of the National Consumers League. For over 120 years, NCL has championed vaccine education and access for consumers who depend on these lifesaving medical interventions. We extend our gratitude to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for the opportunity to serve as a voice for consumers.<\/p>\n

NCL remains committed to educating consumers on the value and safety of immunizations. During the COVID-19 pandemic immunization rates have dropped drastically, which means that our work is needed more than ever. Even under ordinary circumstances, vaccines are underutilized in adult populations, especially among racial and ethnic minority communities.<\/p>\n

Health disparities contribute largely to the burden for Hepatitis B infection, with Asian\/Pacific islanders and non-Hispanic black communities having the highest rates of HBV<\/strong>-related death. Despite vaccine recommendations, there is an estimated prevalence for chronic HBV infection in the US of nearly 1.6 million persons (range 1.2\u20132.5 million)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

NCL is concerned that the updated guidance for those over 60 years of age with diabetes getting vaccinated only<\/em> upon shared decision making with their providers will not <\/em>address the health disparities that persist. The populations at greatest risk for HepB<\/strong> infection are those that are more likely to lack access to health care and not have a primary care medical home. NCL would like to see the CDC support a large-scale education and outreach campaign to raise awareness of the risk of HepB in older adults and call for increased HepB screening in high-risk communities across the country.<\/p>\n

NCL similarly shared its disappointment in response to ACIP\u2019s 2019 recommendations for the pneumococcal vaccine to be administered for those over 65 years of age with shared decision making based on the rationale that childhood vaccinations had dramatically reduced the spread of this disease. However, pneumococcal disease continues to result in an estimated 150,000 hospitalizations per year. And adults over age 65 remain at increased risk for pneumococcal disease.<\/p>\n

In light of the drop in childhood immunizations induced by the pandemic, the CDC may want to issue caution statements to providers that herd immunity may have diminished compared to years prior for many of the diseases we target with the most commonly recommended vaccines. As a commitment to our advocacy, NCL continues to reaffirm that vaccines save lives and will continue to support increased immunizations for preventable diseases.<\/p>\n

In closing, we encourage ACIP to maintain effective public messaging and strong vaccine recommendations to instill vaccine confidence, so that the American public feels safe and informed in their decisions to vaccinate across the lifespan.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your consideration of our views on this important public health issue.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Nissa Shaffi
\nAssociate Director of Health Policy
\nNational Consumers League<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

About the National Consumers League (NCL)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America\u2019s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
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NCL is concerned that the updated guidance for those over 60 years of age with diabetes will not address the health disparities that persist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false},"categories":[16,292,291],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17217"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17217"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17219,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17217\/revisions\/17219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}