October 2026

Fall is here, and it’s a great time to help Illinois communities prepare for respiratory season! October is an important month for respiratory vaccinations, and a timely reminder for patients to talk with their healthcare providers about recommended vaccines for influenza, COVID-19, pneumonia, and RSV.

Immunize Illinois Coalition encourages providers and community partners to make vaccination a priority, share trusted resources, and help address questions or concerns. Every conversation is an opportunity to build confidence in vaccines and help protect our communities throughout the months ahead. Below are a few resources to assist this respiratory season:

• EverThrive Illinois: Respiratory virus season can bring a lot of questions and confusion, but don’t worry, EverThrive Illinois is here to help! EverThrive Illinois has created an easy-to-follow, digestible resource (available in English and Spanish) with the most up-to-date RSV, Flu, and COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children, pregnant people, and adults.
• Illinois Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics: Tackling Respiratory Viruses - Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics
• Vaccinate Your Family (VFV): Respiratory Disease Season Toolkit: The Respiratory Toolkit is available in both English and Spanish and includes social media post templates for Flu, RSV, COVID-19, Pneumococcal, and general respiratory posts.
• Immunize.org: Clinical Resources: Seasonal Vaccines (Influenza, RSV, COVID) | Immunize.org

Other resources:

• FluView | CDC
• IDPH Vaccine Locator
• Vaccine Locator from Champions for Vaccine Education, Equity, and Progress (CVEEP): This can be helpful for border counties that serve clients that live/work/play in neighboring states.
• National Wastewater Data for Respiratory Viruses: Wastewater Monitoring by CDC
• COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness and Safety for the 2026-2027 Respiratory Season from JAMA Network.
• Immunization Fact Sheets from American Academy of Pediatrics

Immunize Illinois Coalition is working behind the scenes to launch its new website and social media platforms before the holiday season! These new communication tools will make it easier to share vaccine resources, coalition updates, upcoming events, and opportunities to get involved. We look forward to connecting with more partners and supporters online as we continue working together to strengthen immunization efforts across Illinois. Stay tuned for more updates!

The American Lung Association is launching a new lung health initiative in partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health focused on improving access to lung health education, resources, and vaccinations for residents living in multi-unit housing communities.  As part of this initiative, the Lung Association is looking to connect with local health partners who may be interested in providing onsite vaccination clinics for residents. Through this initiative, they can also provide support to help cover vaccine costs for uninsured residents, helping make these clinics more accessible to the communities they serve.  If you are interested, please join an upcoming webinar on October 22, 2026, at 11:00 AM. Register here!  You can also email hannah.kochen@lung.org if you are interested in discussing potential collaboration opportunities.

Building Trust to Increase Immunization Uptake October 27, 2026, 1:00 PM CT. Join the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) and the Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC) for a complimentary webinar exploring effective strategies to build trust, address vaccine misinformation, and increase immunization uptake. Expert panelists will share practical communication approaches to strengthen vaccine confidence and highlight opportunities for collaboration among healthcare and public health professionals. Register here.

Connecting Care and Prevention: The Nurse’s Role in Immunization, November 5, 2026, 12:00 PM CT. Presented by NDSU Center for Immunization Research and Education. Nurses do more than administer vaccines—they build the trust, systems, and strategies that make immunization work. Join us to explore the nurse's critical role in community immunization and why it matters for every member of the care team. Register here.

Strengthening HPV Vaccination Conversations with the Announcement Approach, November 12, 2026, 1:30 PM to 2:45 PM CT. From TPN.health, learn evidence-based techniques for making strong HPV vaccination recommendations using the Announcement Approach, including how to address parental hesitancy and apply these skills immediately in clinical practice. CME/CNEs available! Register here. This webinar is sponsored by Humana and supported by American Cancer Society and St. Jude’s Research Hospital.

Storytelling for Social Change 2.0, November 17, 2026,11:00 AM CT. Join Voices for Vaccines (VFV) to further strengthen your vaccine advocacy through storytelling. Have you attended VFV’s Storytelling for Social Change Vaccine Advocate training? In this follow up conversation, discussion will continue with story as a change agent with Karen Torghele, author of Albert Sabin: The Life of a Polio Vaccine Pioneer, and Dr. Peter Orton, Director of Media Design at the Institute for Vaccine Safety (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and author of The Elements of Story: How to Craft Engaging Story for Effective Communication and Presentation. Leave this webinar ready to craft your own impactful story! Register here

SAVE THE DATE! On November 12, 2026, at 12:00 PM CT. Immunize Illinois Coalition will host Stacey Kim, Population Health Strategist with Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science to discuss her research, Understanding Trust, Risk, and Vaccine Hesitancy in the Digital Age. This presentation explores how vaccine hesitancy is expressed and reinforced in online discussions, drawing from a qualitative analysis of vaccine-related discourse on Reddit. Findings highlight themes including institutional distrust, individualized perceptions of risk, reliance on personal experience, and changing sources of health information and authority. The session will examine what these online conversations can teach us about the concerns underlying vaccine hesitancy. Participants will also discuss strategies for applying these findings when responding to vaccine questions and concerns in public health and clinical settings. Registration information to come!

Vax Advocate Training. Are you interested in using your voice to make your family, school, neighborhood, or community healthier? Voices for Vaccines is building a community of Vaccine Advocates. Attend monthly training sessions for actionable tools and best practices in vaccine advocacy.

• Topics include the 4-A method, storytelling for social change, pro-vaccine messaging and media, resilience for advocates, and leadership 
• Access toolkits to engage communities in vaccine advocacy
• Meet like-minded people from other communities advocating for immunization

If you’re interested in learning more, fill out the form as “volunteer” here.

Needle Anxiety. Needle Anxiety is common at any age. Use Immunize.org’s clinical resources to offer a positive vaccination experience. In Clinical Resources: Improving the Vaccination Experience, Immunize​.org provides print and video tools to create a positive vaccination experience and ease injection anxiety in children and adults. Links to additional resources from trusted partner organizations are also provided. The web page links to eight printable resources on addressing vaccination anxiety (four for providers, four for recipients; each available in English and Spanish), two in-depth webinars, and six brief videos (listed below). As with all Immunize​.org resources, these are free to download, link, copy, and share.

Rethinking Vaccine Communication: New insights for Respiratory Virus Season held on September 28, 2026. From Infodemiology.com, a conversation drawing on new analysis of online conversations about flu, COVID-19, and RSV—and five concrete ways to communicate better this season. The recorded webinar can be found here.

From Unvaccinated to Immunologist: Using Story to Build Trust in Vaccine Conversations from NDSU Center for Immunization Research and Education held on October 14, 2026. Facts alone don’t always change minds. Hear how Dr. Elisabeth Marnik went from unvaccinated to immunologist and discover how personal stories can transform vaccine conversations. Watch on-demand and earn free continuing education credit. The recorded webinar, slides, and resources can be found here.

Focus on efficacy, family protection can increase flu vaccination, study notes from CIDRAP. Even when flu vaccines are free, uptake remains low. This study explores what motivates people to get immunized. Read article here.

Vaccine injury research from Reuters. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched an effort to investigate health problems reported after vaccination, including a new NIH clinic, proposed physician reimbursements for reporting suspected injuries, and updates to reporting systems. Experts warn this could inflate unverified reports and imply causation without evidence, and additional detail about the proposed activities is needed. Read article here.

As measles continues to spread, health officials are seeing vaccine interests rise from ABC News. As measles continues to spread across the U.S., local health officials say it may be spurring some to get themselves or their children vaccinated. More than 4,000 cases have been confirmed in the U.S. as well as six deaths -- with the most recent fatality confirmed by Pennsylvania health officials on Monday. It's the most cases and deaths reported in the country in more than three decades. Doctors and public health department leaders told ABC News that awareness of the virus' dangers has led to higher interest in the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine in some areas. Read more here.

Viewpoint: When trust is gone, show your work from Vaccine Integrity Project Staff and Advisers

For every vaccine study now being undertaken by HHS, the methods and findings must stand up to scrutiny. Read the article here.

National Foundation for Infectious Disease (NFID) released a podcast on lessons from African scientists about vaccines, misinformation, and building global scientific capacity. The podcast titled Vaccines, Equity, and Africa’s Scientific Future discusses what African scientists can teach us about the power of vaccines, the threat of misinformation, and the need to build scientific capacity around the world.

Protection is powerful!

Thank you for helping Illinois stay immunized!