After a hiatus since 2018, the National Immunization Conference (NIC2024) returned in full force August 12-14, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hosted by CDC and The Task Force for Global Health (TFGH), a crowd of approximately 1,600 participants from all corners of public health attended including, immunization program staff, clinicians, researchers, national organizations and coalitions, and federal agencies. With an overall theme of “Charting the Future for Immunization Together: Building on Centuries of Protecting the Public” there was something for everyone with key messages that came through a diverse group of presenters.
The atmosphere of NIC was one of celebration – being the 30th anniversary of the Vaccine for Children (VFC) program and the return of NIC! With an opening plenary from Dr. Demetre Daskalakis who spoke about building a comprehensive immunization infrastructure for the future, his key message focused on the urgent need for a Vaccine For Adult (VFA) program. This message would be repeated often in different ways and by many speakers throughout the Conference. Dr. Walter Orenstein’s quote of “Vaccines don’t save lives, vaccinations save lives!” resonated with all attendees.
Attending the Conference from HLN were Marcey Propp, IIS Domain Lead, Gita Prabhakar Senior Business Analyst, and Tammy Seithel, Senior Business Analyst, who brought different perspectives, expertise and focus to the Conference tracks. Offering something for its diverse audience, Marcey focused on the Immunization Information System (IIS) track, while Gita and Tammy focused on the Data visualization and Vaccine Inventory Management tracks, respectively. Presentations covering connecting to the Immunization Gateway to improve electronic data exchange and improve the completeness of patient records, identifying ways to handle vaccine hesitancy, anti-vaxers and misinformation, innovations to increase adult immunization coverage, and considering the needs of diverse populations to improve vaccine rates were just a few offered the first day
There were so many to choose from that our HLN team adopted a ‘divide and attend’ approach to cover as many as possible. We all felt the collective energy of the Conference with discussions of relevant and current public health topics. As Tammy noted after the Conference, “Nearly every session helped me to grow and better understand our clients’ needs and challenges.” Capping off the first day was a lecture from Dr. Anne Schuchat, former principal deputy director of the CDC, who provided her thoughts on where we were pre-COVID, how we worked tirelessly through the COVID response and where we go from here. In true form, Dr. Schuchat was inspiring and real, sharing her candid assessment of key takeaways from the COVID response.
NIC provided media forums to highlight the celebration of VFC’s anniversary with a montage of clips of Betty Bumpers and Rosalynn Carter as they traveled the country with efforts on the ground and from the White House to ensure “Every Child by Two” received their routine vaccinations. The Task Force for Global Health hosted a viewing of the documentary ‘Shot in the Arm’, directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy which began with his investigation into the 2018 measles outbreak and quickly pivoted to the world’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Poster sessions on a multitude of research studies, projects and ideas were available over the three days by a variety of public and private organizations, agencies, and coalitions. Gita co-presented with our clients from the New York City Citywide Immunization Registry (NYC CIR) their MVR – Improving Consumer Access to Immunization Records in New York City (NYC)
Marcey co-authored a poster with Candace Garcia, Senior Informatics Analyst from the Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) on the Transitions Learning Community to assist jurisdictions in assessing their current IIS and the myriad of resources available to operationalize, optimize, and modernize their platform. A picture board for group photos that could be uploaded to social media sites and NIC’s website completed the media blitz for the Conference.
The second and third days of the Conference offered more poignant topics and esteemed presenters from the CDC, FDA, immunization coalitions and jurisdictions who helped us understand the collaboration between the CDC and FDA to recommend vaccines, test vaccine efficacy and vaccine effectiveness; the state health departments who track vaccine coverage rates and identify pockets of opportunity; the clinicians and local health departments who provide shots in arms; and the national associations who provide a public forum to voice opinions and needs. Another prevalent theme heard at NIC – it takes a village to keep people healthy and safe!
Messages heard throughout the conference about vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaxers creating a resurgence of vaccine preventable diseases that were eradicated for so many years were sobering. However, these messages were tempered with numerous presentations of research efforts, non-traditional providers, such as pharmacists, helping to get shots in arms, and building vaccine confidence through community partner engagement. All of these proved that the actions of the Conference attendees, as well as the public health community at large, can move the needle to increase routine vaccination rates, establish an adult vaccine program and squelsh the misinformation. We are glad NIC is back!