April 2026

In April we recognize National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW), which occurs April 19-25 this year. National Infant Immunization Week is a vital opportunity to highlight the importance of protecting our youngest and most vulnerable populations through timely vaccination. The Immunize Illinois Coalition is proud to join partners across the country in raising awareness about the life-saving benefits of immunizations and supporting families, healthcare providers, and communities in keeping infants healthy. By promoting education, access, and confidence in vaccines, we reaffirm our commitment to preventing serious diseases and ensuring every child in Illinois has a strong, healthy start.

Immunize Illinois now has a webpage! You can visit IPHA | Immunize Illinois Coalition to find past issues of Vax Facts; vaccine-related events and webinars; resources, and more!

Immunize Illinois collaborated on a podcast with partner organizations, Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Illinois Primary Health Care Association (IPHCA). The Health Talks podcast from IPHCA focused on immunization insights in Illinois. The conversation with IDPH Director, Dr. Sameer Vohra, Immunize Illinois Coalition Manager, Melissa Graven, and Associate Vice President of Health Access at IPHCA, Paula Campbell, can be accessed here

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

• April 24  |  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. This is the third webinar in the series. Register for the series here.
• June 5  |  Conquering HPV: It Takes a Village Symposium 2026, is a multidisciplinary, full‑day educational event dedicated to understanding, preventing, and managing HPV‑related disease across the lifespan. Designed for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and other healthcare professionals, the symposium brings together leading experts in pediatrics, infectious diseases, oncology, dentistry, otolaryngology, and public health to address the clinical, scientific, and societal challenges associated with HPV. This conference is being held in-person and virtually and offers continuing education credits for nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy techs, physicians, and dentists! Additional information and details to register can be found here.
• May 20  |  Guidance and Updates on Summer Travel Immunizations from Illinois Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics (ICAAP). This webinar will summarize current risks of disease associated with travel, review routine immunizations needed for travel, and help identify travel precautions. Register here.
• May 4  |   Love Vaccinates. Join Voices for Vaccines for a virtual conversation with Kansas-based faith leaders. Most religions and denominations support vaccination. Love means vaccination for those we love. With declining vaccination rates and increasing measles and other vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks across the nation, join Voices for Vaccines in timely conversation with faith leaders Monsignor Stuart Swetland, Bishop Donna Simon, and Pastor Carl Frazier to learn why vaccines are faith in action for your community. Register here

EverThrive IL 2026 NIIW Campaign. EverThrive IL launched their 2026 National Infant Immunization Week campaign on April 1, 2026, and it will run through April 30, 2026. Their English and Spanish NIIW websites have two sections: one for parents/caregivers and pregnant individuals, and another for providers. In addition, EverThrive IL has launched a social media campaign on Facebook where they will be running ads directing people to the campaign webpages.  Outreach workers will also distribute palm cards at events and in priority communities that will also direct folks to the campaign webpages.

Here are some important links to the NIIW Campaign:

• English NIIW webpage: https://everthriveil.org/vaccines-have-the-power-to-protect/
• Spanish NIIW webpage: https://everthriveil.org/vaccines-have-the-power-to-protect-es/
•  Link to the Google folder (contains campaign guidelines, social media ads, and materials for others to print): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HWW5HkyNDgpnPxW-estRtPNHXv1AYOUD

Voices for Vaccines NIIW English and Spanish Resources. Voices for Vaccines  has created social media graphics to help spread awareness during NIIW 2026. Find completely customizable social media graphics in English on Canva. The graphics are also available in Spanish! Other brandable social media graphics are available on the website at any time. No time to customize? Download the ready-to-post graphics here. To reach more people use hashtags to gain more attention:

• #AskForVax
• #9by9
• #SolicitarVacunas
• #9por9

Talking with Families: Motivational Interviewing and Effective Communications for Vaccines held on March 27, 2026 can be found on IPHA’s Learning Management System (LMS) IPHA Academy in the Vaccine Education Module.

RSV Isn’t Over Yet: Protecting Older Adults During an Extended Season held on April 2, 2026, can be found on IPHA’s Learning Management System (LMS) IPHA Academy in the Vaccine Education Module.

National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) invites local health department leaders and staff to apply to join the Immunization Workgroup. The Immunization Workgroup guides NACCHO’s immunization portfolio to ensure NACCHO’s immunization activities are appropriately targeted towards the current needs of local health departments and their immunization programs. The workgroup also provides leadership and guidance to NACCHO regarding the design, development, and evaluation of immunization programs at NACCHO. 

The application period for participation in the 2026-2027 workgroup will open April 1 and close May 1. Participation in NACCHO's Workgroups is a benefit of active NACCHO Membership. Please be on the lookout for the official application announcement. For more information, contact membership@naccho.org.

Update: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Season from Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). RSV activity remains elevated in Illinois; therefore, infant RSV immunization was extended through the end of April 2026. Additional information can be read at IDPH’s Health Advisory issues March 19, 2026 found here.
 

Immunization-related Bills in Committee the Week of April 13-17. SB2387 HOSPITAL LICENSING-VACCINATION (SEN. FINE L) Amends the Hospital Licensing Act. Requires every hospital to adopt an influenza and pneumococcal immunization policy that includes procedures for identifying patients age 18 or older (rather than 50 or older) for influenza immunization and 50 or older (rather than 65 or older) for pneumococcal immunization.

ACIP Charter Amended. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published an amended charter for the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The panel must renew its charter every two years and is prohibited from meeting without an active charter. These most recent amendments expand the guidelines for who may qualify to sit on the committee. The previous charter called for members to have “expertise in the use of vaccines and other immunobiologic agents in clinical practice or preventive medicine, have expertise with clinical or laboratory vaccine research, or have expertise in assessment of vaccine efficacy and safety.” The amended charter calls for a “balance” of specialties including toxicology, immunology, pediatrics, consumer issues, and academic perspectives. The update also expands the list of organizations that may name a non-voting liaison to the committee. As a reminder, the ACIP is not currently able to meet after a federal judge placed a temporary hold on the panel’s actions and convening.  

Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination Associated with Reduced Infant Hospitalizations. A new study published in Pediatrics finds that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy was associated with a 36% reduced risk of hospital care for COVID-19 in early infancy, which is a time when infants are not yet eligible for vaccination. Protection was strongest in the first two months of life at 52%, falling to 24% for infants aged three to five months. Infants six months and younger have the highest rates of pediatric hospitalization due to COVID-19 infection. Researchers note that maternal vaccination protects infants both indirectly, by protecting the mother, and directly, through the transfer of antibodies across the placenta and through breast milk.

Earlier-life HPV Vaccination Does Not Increase Vaccine Hesitancy. Initiating the vaccine series at ages 9 to 10 also makes it easier to complete the multi-dose series before adolescence. To read the article posted by CIDRAP on April 7, 2026, click here.

Describing Vaccines in Terms of Freedom Can Lead Some Hesitant Older Adults to Accept COVID Shot. Vaccine-hesitant adults are more willing to accept hypothetical COVID shots when described as preserving their freedom and autonomy rather than complying with government recommendations. To read the article posted by CIDRAP on April 2, 2025, click here.

Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, is a highly respected pediatrician and renowned vaccine expert. Dr. Offit shares his expertise and unique insights on a myriad of vaccine topics on his Substack and YouTube Channel, Beyond the Noise. To read his latest article on Substack, “How to be an Effective Anti-Vaccine Activist,” click here and subscribe here. You can view the latest episode “The Invulnerability Myth” on his YouTube channel here.

Protection is powerful!

Thank you for helping Illinois stay immunized!