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Infectious Diseases Society of America releases guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine use in immunocompromised people
On October 17, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) released its guidelines on using COVID-19 vaccines in immunocompromised patients for the 2025–26 season. IDSA recommends that all immunocompromised adults and children receive an age-appropriate COVID-19 vaccine dose as soon as possible for the upcoming respiratory virus season. Additionally, IDSA recommends that household members and people with close contact to the immunocompromised person stay current with COVID-19 vaccination to reduce the risk of transmission. Guidelines include vaccination timing considerations for specific conditions and treatments.
People whose immune system is impaired due to a disease such as cancer or HIV, or to medications they take to treat conditions such as an organ transplant, should be vaccinated. Patients with serious conditions that are not moderately or severely immunocompromising, such as end-stage kidney disease, cirrhosis, or end-stage heart disease, are not considered in the guidance.
IDSA will release recommendations for influenza and RSV vaccination in the coming weeks.
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Measles 2025: 1,618 confirmed cases across 41 states; outbreaks grow in counties along Utah-Arizona border
As of October 21, CDC reported 1,618 confirmed measles cases in 2025 in 41 states. Of reported confirmed cases, 87% were outbreak-associated. Notable ongoing outbreaks include:
CDC’s count includes only laboratory-confirmed measles cases. Cases without laboratory testing for confirmation are not included. Actual measles cases for 2025 are, therefore, higher than confirmed case counts.
The Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center updated their U.S. Measles Tracker data, showing cases from January 1 to October 24, 2025. The site includes a map that differentiates imported and local cases, and a table that displays county- and state-level cases. The Johns Hopkins Center for Outbreak Response Innovation offers the “US 2025 Measles Dashboard” with real-time insights into the current measles outbreak across the United States, Canada, and México.
Immunize.org offers measles-related resources for the public on several of our affiliated websites:
Another credible source is the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Fact Checked: The Measles Vaccine Is Safe and Effective web page.
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Look here for respiratory season toolkits supporting outreach, education, and prevention
As respiratory virus season gets into full swing, healthcare professionals and public health communicators can tap an expanding library of free respiratory season toolkits that support outreach, education, and prevention. We have the opportunity now to improve on the 2024–25 season performance. Last season, we saw declines in influenza vaccination, very low COVID-19 vaccination, and many missed opportunities for RSV immunization, especially among infants born during spring and summer who need immunization at the beginning of the RSV immunization season.
The following toolkits and web pages from trustworthy sources help make it easier to encourage your communities and reinforce the value of immunization this season:
- American Academy of Pediatrics: RSV Campaign Toolkit provides materials to communicate about RSV prevention. It includes downloadable resources, social media graphics, educational parent handouts, and suggested messages.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: Maternal Immunization Social Media Toolkit provides messaging to promote COVID-19, influenza, RSV, and Tdap vaccines during pregnancy. Messages for either patient or clinician audiences are offered.
- American Hospital Association: United Against the Flu Toolkit has content about availability of influenza vaccine for at-risk and vulnerable populations.
- CDC: Respiratory Illness Season Toolkit provides resources and communication materials for promoting influenza, COVID-19, and RSV vaccination this season. It provides communication materials, including social media messages, graphics, handouts, and videos.
- CDC: Social Media: For Parents (RSV) toolkit offers social media graphics and message templates to raise awareness about RSV disease and how to protect children. It includes downloadable carousel images, along with sample messages encouraging parents to learn about immunization and prevention.
- Common Health Coalition offers three toolkits, including:
- Payers toolkit: resources for health plans and insurers to guide vaccine coverage decisions, communications, and member engagement
- Providers toolkit: practical tools and materials to help healthcare providers integrate updated vaccine guidance and strengthen patient communication
- States toolkit: guidance for state health leaders and agencies to coordinate vaccine distribution, outreach, and system-wide planning
- Immunize.org: Vaccines A–Z: Influenza, Vaccines A–Z: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Vaccines A–Z: COVID-19. These pages include all resources from Immunize.org on each topic.
- NFID.org: RSV Social Media Graphics web page offers social media graphics to raise awareness about RSV. The graphics come with suggested messages and can be paired with other NFID resources.
- NFID.org: From Wild to Mild: The Power of Flu Vaccination campaign promotes annual influenza vaccination to reduce the severity of influenza. It offers downloadable, co-brandable graphics and animations in English and Spanish.
- Vaccinate Your Family: #RootedInProtection 2025 Respiratory Campaign toolkit includes easy-to-share content to help answer questions families ask this season. The social media graphics and copy are free to use and adapt across platforms. The campaign materials are offered in both English and Spanish.
Busy public health and healthcare practices can use all of these ready-to-use resources to lighten the load in seasonal vaccine education and promotion this fall.
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“Why Universal Adult HepB Vaccination Now?” Watch the 1-minute video, part of the Ask the Experts Video Series on YouTube.
This week, our featured episode from the Ask the Experts Video Series is titled Why Universal Adult HepB Vaccination Now? Most adults who contract hepatitis B have no reported risk factor for infection. Routine childhood hepatitis B vaccination began in the 1990s. But hepatitis B rates have been steady or rising in unvaccinated older adults. Since 2022, CDC recommends hepatitis B vaccination of all susceptible adults through age 59 years and continues to recommend vaccination of at-risk adults age 60 years and older. Catching up unvaccinated adults now is a simple step for a lifetime of protection.
The 1-minute video is available on our YouTube channel, along with our full collection of quick video answers to popular Ask the Experts questions.
Like, follow, and share Immunize.org’s social media accounts and encourage colleagues and others interested in vaccination to do likewise.
These recent articles convey the potential risks of vaccine-preventable diseases and the importance of vaccination.
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Immunize.org Website and Clinical Resources
Spotlight on the website: VaccineInformation.org: Diseases
VaccineInformation.org is our educational website for the public, offering straightforward information for people of all ages about vaccine-preventable diseases and vaccines to prevent them.
Today we spotlight the diseases menu of the website. This section provides a list of infectious diseases for which vaccines are available or recommended. The main landing page gives a short description of each disease and its vaccine. Selecting a disease name leads to a page focused on the disease and available vaccines.
Each disease page includes:
- A description of the disease, including what causes it, how it spreads, and who is most at risk
- The basics of recommendations for who should be vaccinated and when
- Additional information, including disease complications, considerations for special groups (infants, adults, immunocompromised people), and questions to ask your provider about vaccination
- Useful printable handouts from Immunize.org (and available translations), including parent guides and FAQ sheets
- Videos and personal testimonies from people who experienced how serious the disease can be
- Links to general and travel resources from Immunize.org and other trustworthy sources
Share these pages with patients and families looking for credible information about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases.
Recap: Immunize.org updates eight adult patient handouts with current recommendations for RSV, meningococcal, and COVID-19 vaccines
Immunize.org recently updated its suite of eight 1-page vaccination guides for adults. The suite includes a general adult vaccination handout, in addition to one tailored for men who have sex with men, and six for people with common chronic health conditions. Each guide now includes current recommendations for all adult vaccines. Changes include:
- The adult RSV vaccination recommendation for people at increased risk for serious RSV infection now begins at age 50 years. Routine vaccination of all adults still begins at age 75.
- Adults are advised to “talk to your pharmacist or healthcare provider” about COVID-19 vaccination.
- The meningococcal section now states “a combination MenABCWY is an option when both MenB and MenACWY vaccines are needed.”
The revised handouts for adults are listed below.
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Recap: Immunize.org updates “Need Help Responding to Vaccine-Hesitant Parents?” and “Reliable Sources of Immunization Information: Where Parents Can Go to Find Answers!”
Immunize.org recently updated two resources healthcare professionals can use to direct their patients to reputable information. Resources include:
- Need Help Responding to Vaccine-Hesitant Parents? Updates include a focus on nongovernmental resources. New resources include the LetsGetRealAboutVaccines.org website, Vaccine Education Center (VEC) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) short- and long-form videos, and resources in the vaccines-and-autism box. Web links were updated as needed.
- Reliable Sources of Immunization Information: Where Parents Can Go to Find Answers! Updates include a focus on nongovernmental websites, adding the new LetsGetRealAboutVaccines.org website and VEC at CHOP short- and long-form videos. Phone and email contact information for CDC is provided, including a note that CDC callers may have questions addressed in English or Spanish and that guidance from CDC and pediatricians may vary.
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Recap: Immunize.org updates “Healthcare Personnel Vaccination Recommendations”
Immunize.org updated Healthcare Personnel Vaccination Recommendations. This now indicates that there are no specific CDC occupational recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination of healthcare personnel.
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Recap: Immunize.org updates two handouts related to meningococcal vaccination: “Meningococcal ACWY Vaccine Recommendations by Age and Risk Factor" and “You’re 16 . . . We Recommend These Vaccines for You!”
Immunize.org recently updated its 1-page healthcare provider guide to meningococcal ACWY vaccination and its patient handout for 16-year-olds that is codeveloped and co-branded with our partners at the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM).
Meningococcal ACWY Vaccine Recommendations by Age and Risk Factor now includes the pentavalent MenABCWY. A new table displays currently licensed and recommended MenACWY vaccine options (MenQuadfi, Sanofi; Menveo, GSK), including important clinical notes about each. The schedule table for meningococcal vaccination of children and adults more likely to develop invasive meningococcal disease as a result of medical risk or exposure risk was simplified. A note was added indicating that combination MenABCWY vaccines (Penbraya, Pfizer; Penmenvy, GSK) may be an option in recipients age 10 years or older when the recipient needs protection against serogroups A, B, C, W, and Y.
The Immunize.org and SAHM handout You’re 16 . . . We Recommend These Vaccines for You! was updated with the latest recommendations for meningococcal and COVID-19 vaccination. A statement was added that MenABCWY may be used when MenACWY and MenB are needed at the same visit. The section on COVID-19 was revised to state “COVID-19 vaccination may be recommended for you. Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist.”
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Featured Resources
Avalere Health offers 50-state comparison of Medicaid adult vaccine provider reimbursement practices in new white paper
Avalere Health recently published a new white paper, Medicaid Adult Vaccine Provider Reimbursement in 2025: Comparison Across 50 States and Washington, DC. Their analysis reviews how Medicaid reimburses providers for five adult vaccines: RSV, Tdap, PCV, shingles, and COVID-19. The analysis included three provider types: physician offices, federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), and pharmacies.
Two key findings are outlined below:
- There have been relatively few changes in the Medicaid vaccine reimbursement landscape compared to prior assessments. In most states:
- Physician offices continue to be reimbursed less by Medicaid than Medicare.
- Pharmacies continue to receive wholesale acquisition cost (WAC)-based reimbursement for vaccine products and relatively low rates for vaccine administration.
- FQHCs are not able to separately bill from the Prospective Payment System (PPS) for vaccine products and administration.
- Several targeted changes in Medicaid reimbursement were observed in 2025:
- Administration rates for non-COVID-19 vaccines have increased modestly, whereas reimbursement for COVID-19 immunization administration has declined in multiple states.
- The number of vaccines for which pharmacies are permitted to seek reimbursement has expanded.
- A greater number of states now allow FQHCs to bill separately for vaccine products and administration under defined circumstances.
The report also considers potential stressors:
ACIP’s planned rereview of immunization recommendations could alter federal coverage requirements, potentially restricting access in some states. Moreover, provisions in OBBBA [One Big Beautiful Bill Act] are expected to constrain state budgets. As stakeholders look to safeguard vaccine access, ensuring adequate reimbursement for vaccine products and administration can help support ongoing access for Medicaid beneficiaries.
View the white paper.
Notable Publications
"Science for Vaccine Policy: Independent Review of the September 2025 ACIP Processes, Deliberations and Votes" published in VaccineIn the online version of its November 20 issue, Vaccine published Science for Vaccine Policy: Independent Review of the September 2025 ACIP Processes, Deliberations and Votes. Immunize.org's Jane R. Zucker, MD, MSc, is a coauthor. The review utilized a standard tool for assessing national vaccine advisory groups’ development and maturity. The key findings appear below.
Four concerns have emerged that limit ACIP's ability to make effective vaccine policy recommendations for the US: 1) removal of choice for previously recommended vaccines, thereby limiting opportunities to improve health, 2) focus on theoretical vaccine harms using low-quality data, 3) loss of vaccine science and clinical practice expertise, and 4) reduced transparency and independence.
The authors conclude:
To maintain public trust and ensure effective immunization policy, ACIP must restore rigorous, evidence-based, and independent decision making.
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“Trends in Influenza Vaccine Disparities in the U.S. Following the Introduction of COVID-19: Insights from the National Health Interview Survey” published in Preventive Medicine Reports
In its October 22 issue, Preventive Medicine Reports published Trends in Influenza Vaccine Disparities in the U.S. Following the Introduction of COVID-19: Insights from the National Health Interview Survey. The conclusions section appears below.
We observed notable improvements in flu vaccination coverage among historically under-vaccinated racial and ethnic groups, namely people who identified as non-Hispanic Black. However, significant disparities persisted and declines in coverage were observed among people who identified as non-Hispanic White, with varying magnitudes of coverage decline by flu risk factors and financial barriers to healthcare. We identified declines in seasonal flu vaccination coverage among those who were uninsured and/or experienced financial barriers to healthcare. To reach immunization Healthy People 2030 targets, public health strategies that reduce financial and structural barriers and address declines in vaccine confidence are needed.
Upcoming Events
Today! Virtual: NFID hosts webinar on healthcare professionals and vaccine uptake, part of its 2025–2026 Respiratory Season News Briefings series, on October 29 at 12:00 p.m. (ET). CME credit offered.
NFID will host its second webinar in its 2025–2026 Respiratory Season News Briefings series titled It’s on Us: Healthcare Professionals and Vaccine Uptake at 12:00 p.m. (ET) on October 29. The panel includes NFID Medical Director Robert H. Hopkins; Holly Carpenter, BSN, RN, American Nurses Association; Frederick Chen, MD, MPH, American Medical Association; and Brigid K. Groves, PharmD, MS, American Pharmacists Association.
Speakers will focus on the pivotal role of healthcare professionals in safeguarding communities from severe illness, providing expert perspectives and personal stories that will highlight:
- Why it’s essential for healthcare professionals to get vaccinated against influenza and COVID-19 and, if indicated, RSV and pneumococcal disease
- How healthcare professionals can effectively encourage vaccination among patients and within their communities
- Strategies for addressing vaccine hesitancy and improving confidence in immunization recommendations
- The effect of vaccination on public health outcomes during respiratory season
CME and CNE credit are available. There is no fee to participate in this activity, but preregistration is required.
Register for the webinar.
NFID hosts monthly webinars to increase awareness of the importance of infectious disease prevention and treatment. CME, CNE, and CPE credits are available for select recordings. View all archived NFID webinars.
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Tomorrow! Virtual: American Lung Association hosts webinar “Preparing for the Respiratory Virus Season” on October 30 at 1:00 p.m. (ET). The American Lung Association will host a webinar titled Preparing for the Respiratory Virus Season at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on October 30. This webinar is geared towards the public, especially adults living with chronic lung disease. The webinar will highlight prevention strategies, vaccination recommendations, resources, and frequently asked questions.
Register for the webinar.
Virtual: Register for Immunize.org Website Office Hours. Join a 30-minute discussion about our new travel-vaccine content on November 12 at 4:00 p.m. (ET) or November 13 at 12:00 p.m. (ET). Recorded sessions archived. To learn simple tips and tricks for using our websites efficiently, please register for our next set of Website Office Hours on Wednesday, November 12, at 4:00 p.m. (ET) or Thursday, November 13, at 12:00 p.m. (ET). The same content will be covered in both sessions.
We will open each 30-minute session with a short, live demonstration on navigating our Travel Vaccines website sections on Immunize.org and VaccineInformation.org. You can submit questions when you register or live on Zoom during the session.
Register today for Immunize.org Website Office Hours (content is the same for both):
The archive of previous Website Office Hours content is posted at Immunize.org’s "Webinars & Videos" page.
Mark your calendar for future Immunize.org Website Office Hours.
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