Pneumococcal Vaccination in At-risk Populations: Addressing Year-long Efforts in Disease Prevention

Release Date: Monday, October 23, 2023
Expiration Date: Tuesday, October 23, 2024

EDUCATIONAL OVERVIEW
Though the past 3-4 years have been dominated by COVID-19 news and discoveries, pneumococcal disease continues to place a heavy burden on the most vulnerable populations, including older adults and those with underlying conditions. Fortunately, available vaccines are highly effective in providing protection against invasive pneumococcal infection by select serotypes, as well as pneumococcal pneumonia to some degree. However, serotype switching has made it necessary to expand the number of serotypes covered by the vaccines to ensure optimal protection against these infections. Introduction of new pneumococcal vaccines and revised recommendations have added to the complexity in selecting the optimal vaccine or vaccine series. Primary care providers (PCPs) are most often the first line of provider-patient contact, either during well, sick or follow-up visits, and are instrumental in patient education. Improving vaccination rates among vulnerable adults will depend on proactive efforts by PCPs in identifying eligible patients and strongly recommending the vaccine.

TARGET AUDIENCE
This activity is designed as a comprehensive approach to address the practice needs of primary care providers, including primary care physicians, osteopathic physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists, who are at forefront of caring for adult patients eligible for immunizations and/or at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the conclusion of the educational activity, the learner should be able to:

Describe the clinical burden and potential complications of pneumococcal disease including pneumonia among adults at risk of infection
Summarize current ACIP recommendations for pneumococcal vaccination among adults and differentiate serotype coverage among the available vaccination regimens
Implement strategies to improve vaccination acceptance among adults at-risk of pneumococcal disease

EDUCATIONAL FORMAT
The activity is based on the primary care series on pneumococcal disease presented throughout 2023. The presentation reviews the latest data and trends in pneumococcal disease, discusses advances in pneumococcal disease prevention, and summarizes the latest ACIP recommendations. A series of case exercises presents various patient scenarios commonly encountered in primary care and offers guidance on recommended approaches in patient communication and vaccination.

FACULTY

	Stephan L. Foster, PharmD, FAPhA CAPT (Ret) U.S.P.H.S. Professor (Ret) University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy ACIP Liaison Member 2001 – 2021 Memphis, TN

Accreditation and Credit Designation Statement

Physicians
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint providership of Center for Independent Healthcare Education (Center) and Vemco MedEd. Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Center designates this Enduring material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Physician Assistants

AAPA accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for the PRA from organizations accredited by ACCME.

Nurse Practitioner

Nurse Practitioners will receive certificate of AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ as this is an ACCME accredited program and its accreditation is recognized by Nurse Practitioner boards.

For questions regarding the accreditation of this activity, please contact us at info@jointsponsor.com

Method of Participation and Instruction for Credit

Review the entire CME information including target audience, learning objectives, and disclosures.
Review the activity in its entirety.
Complete the Online Post Test, Evaluation, and Credit Application form
Please note that to receive credit you must achieve a score of at least 75%.
Certificate of Credit will be emailed to you within 4 weeks.

Disclosure of Financial Relationships with Ineligible Companies

Center for Independent Healthcare Education and Vemco MedEd fully comply with the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education in development of CME/CPE activities. We require the full disclosure of financial relationships with ineligible companies from all individuals in a position to influence the content of a certified activity, in any amount occurring within the past 24 months. All relevant financial relationship is identified by the provider and mitigated to prevent inserting commercial bias into content. All identified relevant financial relationships are disclosed to the learners prior to the activity. The faculty is further required to disclose discussion of off-label uses in their presentations.

Disclosures

Dr. Stephan Foster has the following relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose:

Speakers Bureau: Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer Inc., Seqirus, Inc.

Advisory Board: Pfizer Inc., Seqirus, Inc., Valneva

Dr. Foster does not discuss any off-label use.

All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated. No (other) speakers, authors, planners or content reviewers have any relevant financial relationships to disclose. Content review confirmed that the content was developed in a fair, balanced manner free from commercial bias. Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone commercial bias in any presentation, but it is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation.

Fee
There is no fee to participate in this activity.

System Check
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Joint Providership
This activity is jointly provided by Center for Independent Healthcare Education and Vemco MedEd.

Commercial Support

This activity is supported through an independent educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.

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