| | | | Hotez, Bottazzi Nobel Peace Prize nominees | | | | CBig news in the world of COVID-19 vaccines and The Immunization Partnership. Our Scientific Advisory Council members Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, and Maria Elena Bottazzi, PhD, received word on Feb. 1 that Houston Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) nominated them for the Nobel Peace Prize for their development of the low-cost COVID vaccine CORBEVAX. They are Deans of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Co-Directors of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital. | | | | Rep. Fletcher wrote in her nomination letter that Dr. Hotez and Dr. Bottazzi’s effort to develop the CORBEVAX vaccine is truly one of international cooperation and partnership to bring health, security, and peace around the world by creating a COVID-19 vaccine and making it available and accessible to all. It is a contribution that is of the greatest benefit to humankind. All of us at The Immunization Partnership send our most sincere congratulations to these two outstanding researchers and colleagues. | | | | | | Save the date for our annual Community Immunity Luncheon | |  | | | We hope you'll join us for our 13th Annual Community Immunity Luncheon on April 6, 2022. We use this special event to focus community leaders on the importance of immunization issues, to raise funds to support our programs, and to honor individuals who have advanced immunizations and increased immunization rates. We will present Dr. Jason V. Terk with the Ralph D. Feigin, MD Award for Excellence, and H-E-B with the John R. Boettiger, Jr. Award for Community Partnership. Dr. Terk is with Cook Children’s Physician Network in Keller, Texas. We also will honor Venus Ginés with our first Community Immunization Champion Award. She is CEO and Founder of Dia de la Mujer Latina. | | Brendan Borrell, PhD, is our keynote speaker. He is a Los Angeles-based journalist and author who grew up in Texas. Through his compelling new book, The First Shots: The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccines, Dr. Borrell offers a behind-the-scenes look into how we got today’s COVID-19 vaccines. We hope you will join us to hear more about his dynamic experiences as he developed a multi-faceted account of the unprecedented scientific achievements and vaccine journey, and the political and social influences impacting vaccine development and manufacturing along the way. | | | | | | Edit this section of copy to tell your supporters how their action will help ignite change. Use stories, quotes, data, and other inspiring content to capture their attention and get them to act. | | We also want to thank our dedicated chairs, Catherine Mitchell and Kay Tittle, MS, RN, FACHE, for all their work to return this year’s luncheon to an in-person event. You can make your reservation and get more information on the luncheon website. | | | | | | Special Message from TIP Executive Director Terri Burke | | | | As the newest team member here at The Immunization Partnership, I’m racing to soak up all the knowledge the TIP team and our partners are sharing with me. The most stunning lesson has been just how life threatening the misinformation spread by the opponents of vaccinations can be, especially through Facebook campaigns or Twitter feeds. I’m writing you because we are being outgunned. We can’t afford to buy Facebook ads, or create Tik-Tok videos, let alone target especially vulnerable populations, to spread the facts and the science about vaccines. We need the resources to boost our Tweets, other social media posts, and speeches by experts from our Scientific Advisory Council, such as Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi or Dr. Peter Hotez of Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. | | | | This isn’t just about COVID-19, folks. This is about your kids’ polio and measles and pertussis vaccines. Those diseases we don’t see any more because of vaccination. The hesitancy we have seen around COVID vaccinations is bleeding over into new attacks on more than 50 years of scientific evidence that childhood vaccines work. If these folks have their way, you’ll see our school-aged children, their grandparents, and everyone in between suffering from measles, mumps, and other diseases we haven’t seen in years. Anti-vaccination groups are growing in membership and in their financial support. Informed Consent Action Network, an Austin-based anti-vaccine group founded by Del Bigtree, has 50,000 plus followers (which is more than most nonprofits of its size can claim) and a $5 million budget. They often are joined by other Facebook groups to organize protests such as the one several hundred people attended in August at the state capitol, or the many local ones in cities across Texas. Their leaders brag about their close relationships with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nationwide Children’s Health Defense. In a deep examination of that organization, the Associated Press described Kennedy and his websites as disseminating “slanted information, cherry-picked facts and conspiracy theories to spread distrust of the COVID-19 vaccines.” The other anti-vaccination groups are no different. Many in our state are interpreting the decibel level of the anti-vaccine movement as an indicator of the number of followers. They are vocal, yet they are a minority of Texans. For example, 54% of Texas voters support public schools requiring staff to either provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or submit to frequent testing. Frighteningly, because anti-vaccine supporters are thought to be a majority, they are leading us to the scariest destination of all: more children not being protected against deadly diseases and an abolition of the 50-year policy of requiring certain vaccinations for children to attend school. If these anti-vaccine forces use 2022 the way they have used 2021, our next legislative session will see the dilution of that critical public health policy. Texas school children will return to a time when they will be exposed to measles, mumps, polio and so many other truly preventable diseases. I know you must be as alarmed as I am by these developments. This a life and death issue our lawmakers are messing with. It is essential that we show them most Texans want our children protected from the preventable. Join us, sign up for our email alerts, volunteer to talk to your school boards, city councils, county commissioners, and any other law-making or even trend-setting organization. We’ll arm you with the information you need to make a fact-based argument so that you can let your local leaders know most Texans support our public health policies. Most of all, please donate now. We are being out-raised and out-spent. This really is about life versus death. Our team and I are not going to let life lose. | | | | | | | | TIP adds Chief Strategy Officer | | | | Please join us in congratulating Rekha Lakshmana in her new role as Chief Strategy Officer. We created this position to deepen and broaden our footprint in the immunization ecosystem. In this new role, she will have a strategic role in shaping our future through shepherding the strategic planning process and translating it into action that increases the effectiveness and capacity of our integrated efforts to effect change. Rekha, who has successfully steered our agenda through four legislative sessions, will continue to direct and be actively involved in our legislative advocacy program. | | | | | | TIP immunization and vaccine tools for your Community-Based Organization | | The COVID-19 pandemic added to the challenges members of our communities face every day. It also added to the difficulties for many of us in keeping up-to-date with our recommended disease-preventing vaccinations. The Immunization Partnership is the only statewide non-profit organization in Texas dedicated solely to providing immunization education and advocacy. If your Community-Based Organization provides vital wellness services, we would like to help you increase immunization awareness and vaccination rates among our families, neighbors, and friends. We have a variety of tools specifically designed for community-based organizations. We never charge to help you help those you serve. Please contact us at info@immunizeusa.org. We would love to hear from you. | | | | | | | | What’s your story? The Immunization Partnership needs your help in sharing with members of the community the importance of vaccinations. Please click this link to tell us your experience with a vaccine-preventable illness, specifically shingles, pneumonia, flu, or HPV. It’s easy to add your story to those we have received. And it might be the one that persuades someone to get vaccinated. | | | | TIP Meme of the Month It's still flu season, and we don't need a reminder about COVID-19 and its variants. A flu shot helps to prevent getting or spreading the virus. Talk to your healthcare provider about protection against the twindemic and flurona. Your vaccine is waiting wherever you get your shots. | | | | | | Mobi vs. The Shield Mobi explains community immunity and the importance of keeping those who are unable to receive vaccines safe from harm. You can receive a 50% discount on your book order by using coupon code: TIP English version: Hard cover or Paperback Spanish version: Hard cover or Paperback If you would like to order bulk copies of the book, please email kgore@immunizeUSA.org. | | | | Return to school at TIP’s Immunization University Are you a nurse who needs professional continuing education credit? We can help through Immunization University (IZU). This new online platform provides nursing educational courses/modules, which include information about immunizations and vaccine-preventable diseases. The nursing-approved continuing education credit program is through a partnership with Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth. We also offer non-credit courses. These free courses are open to everyone. To take any of the courses, please click here. | | | | | | Remember TIP in your philanthropic giving | | | | The Immunization Partnership is the only organization in Texas dedicated solely to improving the health of ALL Texans through immunizations. We provide healthcare professionals, the public, the media, and policymakers with current evidence-based immunization information, news, and materials. We are proud to be your trusted resource. | | | | Please consider TIP when deciding where to make your philanthropic donation. We do not charge for what we do. Instead, we rely on generous supporters like you to help us make the greatest impact in providing the education, information, and advocacy that will keep Texans healthy today and for generations to come. You can find out more about our programs and how you can help us by going to our website. We appreciate all you do to help keep Texans healthy and thriving because we can’t educate and advocate for immunizations without support from folks like you. | | | | | | The Immunization Partnership Podcasts | | | | Along with our regular podcasts, we now offer a daily immunization news digest: TIP News. You can listen to these podcasts at your convenience on either of our podcast platforms. Vaxx Voice covers general immunization information while Vaxx to the Future features COVID-19 virus and vaccine information. All of our podcast episodes are free. No subscription necessary, and they are available on most podcast platforms. Click on one of the images above to access that podcast. | | | | | | Partner with TIP We partner with a wide variety of stakeholders to effectively collaborate on eradicating vaccine-preventable diseases across Texas. We greatly appreciate the help of these diverse and strong alliances. Here’s where you can learn more about our partners and how to become one. | | | | | | TIP in the News Find out what TIP is saying about COVID-19 and other vaccine-preventable diseases, and what the media are saying about TIP by visiting our TIP in the News page. Also, you can catch up on past Vaxx Voice newsletters here. | | | | | | | | TIP's mission is to eradicate vaccine-preventable diseases by educating the community, advocating for evidence-based public policy, and supporting immunization best practices. | | | | | | The Immunization Partnership
P.O. Box 1985 | League City, Texas 77574-1985
281-400-3689 | info@immunizeUSA.org | | | | | | | | | | | |
