February 2026

Love is in the Air

This February, love is in the air—and so is our commitment to keeping our communities healthy and protected! Just as Valentine's Day reminds us to show those we care about how much they mean to us, it's also the perfect time to show our love for public health by making sure our families, friends, and neighbors are up to date on their immunizations. For the Immunize Illinois Coalition, protecting the ones we love is at the heart of everything we do. So, this month, give the gift that truly keeps on giving— a shot of prevention, straight to the heart.

Since our last issue, the Immunize Illinois Coalition has been busy!

• Initiated the process of becoming a standalone 501(c)3 nonprofit, while forming governance through bylaws and Board structure.
• Met with the Community Advisory Council, which provides insight and guidance on the priorities of the Coalition, on January 19, 2026.
• Tracked and responded to various immunization-related policy changes at both the state and federal levels.
• Continued to develop a sustainability plan focusing on the longevity of the Coalition with both short- and long-term goals

Find trainings, webinars, and important dates related to vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases.

• February 27  |   Help.Guide.Thrive and Immunize Illinois Coalition are partnering to offer a three-part webinar series on practical communication skills for talking with families about vaccines and useful strategies to support and advocate for stronger immunization efforts within communities. Register for the series here
• March 12  |   12 - 1 PM MT  |  Immunize Colorado will host a free webinar titled Narrative Reminder Recall: A Randomized Trial of Community Storytelling to Improve Pediatric Influenza Vaccination Equity at Denver Health. The webinar will feature Dr. Joshua Williams, a pediatrician, professor of pediatrics, and vaccine researcher. Learn more and register here
•  March 18  |   12 – 1 PM CT  |  ICAAP, HPV Vaccination: The Latest Data and What Federal Guidance Means for Illinois. Register Here

Debunking Vaccine Myths. Voices for Vaccines  has created videos based on their 4-A Method for addressing vaccine concerns. Check out the videos on Voices for Vaccines YouTube channel. These are great resources to share with the community through social media or on your agency website!

Vaccination Guide for Individuals impacted by Lung Cancer. The American Lung Association is excited to share a new Vaccination and Lung Cancer Resource! Featuring two healthcare providers, The Importance of Vaccination: A Guide for Individuals Impacted by Lung Cancer is designed to highlight the importance of keeping up to date on recommended vaccinations for individuals living with lung cancer and their caregivers. This new guide, alongside other key resources, can be viewed on Lung.org/vaccines.

Help Build a Measles Response Repository: For Public Health Departments. The Center for Outbreak Response Innovation at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is seeking to collect real-world operational data from health departments across the U.S. who have managed measles outbreaks in the last few years. If you work at a health department that responded to a measles outbreak since 2024, your agency may be eligible.  Data can be submitted to the repository via the survey here or you can email ORI-Net@jh.edu . Personally identifiable or personal health information is not being requested and is not part of data collection.

Morning Vax View Common Health Coalition has developed a daily newsletter of vaccine news and resources. This daily roundup is delivered to your inbox each morning full of recent news, tools, and resources.  Click here to sign up!

Double-reverse: FDA Now says it will review Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine. Read more here.

ACIP’s February 2026 meeting postponed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has delayed the upcoming meeting for the Advisory  Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). More information can be found here and here. There is discussion that the meeting will occur in March but no solid dates or details have been released.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya to temporarily run CDC. Since Susan Monarez was fired in August 2025 as CDC Director, the position had been filled by Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary, Jim O’Neill. O’Neill was acting as current CDC Director until his departure from the agency on February 13, 2026. Read more here

Immunization News in Illinois - When Individual Rights Collide with Population Health Protections: Rethinking Recommendations on Polio Vaccine. Read Illinois Public Health Association’s Public Health Impact statement on this topic here

Each month this section will highlight a vaccine-related trivia question or vaccine-related story. This month is a question. If you know the answer, email mgraven@ipha.com. Check the next issue for the answer!

Congratulations to Sarah Childers-Strawbridge! Sarah was the first to respond with the correct answer to last month’s question. The answer was: Polio, which was the disease that prompted the call for a collection of dimes from those in the United States (The March of Dimes).

Protection is powerful!

Thank you for helping Illinois stay immunized!