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The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released the Unified Regulatory Agenda and Regulatory Plan, which outlines regulatory actions federal agencies are considering in the coming months. Regulations can be searched by specific agency, such as Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
As the holiday season approaches, remember to protect yourself and others by staying up-to-date with your COVID-19 and flu vaccines. You may be eligible to receive your flu vaccine at the same time as a recommended COVID-19 vaccine. Your healthcare practitioner or pharmacist can help you decide if you should receive both vaccines at the same time.
Flu Vaccine
CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine every flu season, with rare exceptions. Vaccination is particularly important for people who are at higher risk of serious complications from influenza. A full listing of people at Higher Risk of Developing Flu-Related Complications is available.
COVID-19 Vaccine
CDC recommends that people ages 5 years and older receive one updated (bivalent) booster if it has been at least 2 months since their last COVID-19 vaccine dose, whether that was:
People who have gotten more than one original (monovalent) booster are also recommended to get an updated (bivalent) booster.
Staying up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccination is important for maximum protection. You are up-to-date with your COVID-19 vaccines if you have completed a COVID-19 vaccine primary series and received the most recent booster dose recommended for you by CDC.
You are still up-to-date if you receive all COVID-19 vaccine doses recommended for you and then become ill with COVID-19. You do not need to be immediately revaccinated or receive an additional booster.
Updated (bivalent) boosters became available on:
Your healthcare practitioner, including your pharmacist, can help you determine if you are up to date with your vaccines.
Additional Resources
CDC has launched a new four-year phase of funding for the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, the only collaborative network to track the number and characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities in multiple communities throughout the United States. Over the next four years, CDC will invest more than $20 million to continue tracking at nine sites previously included in the ADDM Network, while also launching activities at one new site.
All 10 sites will track ASD among 4-year-old and 8-year-old children. Four of the sites will also track transition planning and co-occurring conditions among 16-year-old children with ASD. In addition to the 10 funded sites, our CDC-managed site in Georgia, the Metropolitan Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program (MADDSP), will also conduct ASD surveillance activities among 4-, 8-, and 16-year-old children.
Updated (bivalent) boosters became available September 2, 2022. Prior to September 2022, the available boosters were original, monovalent boosters. The CDC recommends that people ages 5 years and older receive one updated (bivalent) booster if it has been at least 2 months since their last COVID-19 vaccine dose, whether that was:
People who have gotten more than one original (monovalent) booster are also recommended to get an updated (bivalent) booster.
Boosters are an important part of protecting yourself from getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19. The CDC has developed a tool to determine when or if you (or your child) can get one or more COVID-19 boosters. This tool can be accessed here.
Last week during an ANCOR ICF/IDD Community of Practice call, Catherine Thibedeau shared a PowerPoint with updated information regarding COVID-19 Infection Control. She has graciously shared this information to the benefit of our ICF providers.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Catherine via email.
The new HEADS UP to Sports Officials: Online Concussion Training was developed through a partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) to share the latest guidance on concussion safety and prevention. The training provides essential information to help sports officials spot possible concussion signs and symptoms that can help keep athletes safe.
Sports officials will learn how to:
Illustrated case studies in the training help guide sports officials through practical scenarios they can use in their on-field activities.
Additionally, there are other CDC HEADS UP resources for concussion safety:
On August 4, 2022, the Biden administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency. Since then, every state and Washington, D.C. has recorded cases of the virus. As of September 20, 2022, the CDC reported 24,203 total confirmed monkeypox cases in the United States. Of those cases, 3 percent, or 708 total, were reported in Pennsylvania.
To raise awareness of the epidemic, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services approached the Jewish Healthcare Foundation’s Aging Team, which operates the State’s Learning Network, who coordinated just-in-time learning for all long-term care and community programs across Commonwealth. The PA Department of Human Services and PA Department of Health presented “Monkeypox: What You Need to Know” on August 31.