Interventions to Improve Vaccination Rates in AZ Schools
Over the last couple of years, we’ve been working with partners using data collected by the U of A to stem the tide of lower vaccination rates in Arizona schools. Last year’s initiatives included implementation of our Action Plan to Address Vaccine Exemptions which included updating the vaccine exemption form (which reinforces to parents know how important it is to [...]
Arizona School Vaccination Rates Posted
With all the news about Arizona’s measles outbreak, I’m sure you’ve heard just how important vaccination is for our community. Public health agencies study vaccine coverage data to understand how well communities are protected from preventable disease and to make targeted decisions about how to contain an outbreak. For example, if there’s a disease outbreak in a school, the local [...]
Healthcare Associated Infection Report
Last month the CDC issued their updated National and State Healthcare Associated Infections Progress Report, which provides healthcare-associated infections data from 2013. Overall, the report found improvements nationally in performance, with reductions in most categories. Between 2012 and 2013, we reduced catheter-associated urinary tract infections and surgical site infections. We’ve had significant improvements in central-line associated bloodstream infections in 2013 compared to [...]
New Infectious Disease Preparedness & Response Funding on the Way
We just got word last month from the CDC that we qualify for new funding to support accelerated infectious disease preparedness planning and response. The total award for Arizona is about $2.5M, which enhances our total Preparedness grant award by about 10%. The new funding is scheduled to arrive in April and is on an 18 month funding cycle. We’ll be [...]
Rural Metro Union Authorizes Strike
Last week Southwest Ambulance workers (Southwest is a subsidiary of Rural/Metro) voted to authorize their union management to call a strike in Pima, Pinal, and Maricopa Counties. The union’s management hasn't yet called for a strike and hopefully both parties will continue to negotiate and reach a deal. If they do decide to call a strike, they’re required to provide a [...]
Naught Measles
Last fall I wrote about how contagious Ebola is compared to other diseases, using a mathematical calculation called R0 (R naught). R0 is a tool we use in epidemiology to estimate the average number of people one sick person will infect. The R0 for measles is off the charts. It has one of the highest R0 (from 12-18 compared to an [...]