Immunization Action Coalition

“There are no material differences in voting rights among members of the governing body, and the governing body has not delegated broad authority to an executive committee or similar committee.”

“Iac's bylaws provide that deborah l. Wexler, md, is the sole member of the corporation. She is entitled to elect the board of directors and to take other member action, including adding other members to the corporation. Dr. Wexler has not taken any action as the sole member of the organization other than to appoint professionals to the board of directors for the purpose of promoting iac's goals and mission.”

“See comment above for part vi, line 6.”

“The organization has a small board of directors. There are no seperate committees of the board of directors.”

“Review of form 990. The organization's staff provides necessary documentation and data via questionnaires to the accountant. Once the draft of the form 990 has been prepared by the accountant, the organization's management reviews the form for accuracy. When the draft is approved by management, the 990 is sent by electronic means to each board member for review and approval. If there are any changes, they will be incorporated into the draft. Once the board has approved the 990, management conveys approval to the accountant to finalize the draft. The final form 990 is signed by the executive director and filed in a timely manner with the appropriate state and federal authorities. Form 990 is available for public review on www.guidestar.org”

“Written conflict of interest policy. Annually the board, management and all employees review and sign their copies of the conflict of interest policy to disclose any conflicts. Copies are reviewed by management for reportable conflicts. Any conflicts are noted in the board minutes. Board members that have conflicts of interest are prohibited from participating or voting in board activities related to the conflict.”

“Compensation of executive director. The organization gathers comparable pay data from the state of mn and the mn council of nonprofit salary and benefits survey to determine fairness. Annual review of executive director's salary and benefits is approved by the board, with the executive director excused from the conversation and voting. The executive director received the same percentage increase in her salary as did the rest of the staff. This process was last conducted in august 2013. Compensation of chief strategy officer. Dr. Tan is a uniquely qualified individual who was recruited away from the american medical association (ama) in competition with at least one other national medical organization much larger than iac. Iac simply matched the compensation he was receiving at the ama. Dr. Tan's compensation in future years will be determined using the organization's internal compensation evaluation process.”

“The immunization action coalition does not make its articles of incorporation, bylaws, conflict of interest policy, or financial statements available to the general public.”

“The immunization action coalition (iac) works to increase immunization rates and prevent disease by creating and distributing educational materials for health professionals and the public that enhance the delivery of safe and effective immunization services. Iac also facilitates communication about the safety, efficacy, and use of vaccines within the broad immunization community of patients, parents, health care organizations, and government health agencies.”

“Program: education iac creates publications and educational materials for healthcare professional staff, their patients, and the public. All of these publications and materials are available online and copyright-free. Needle tips: frontline healthcare professionals rely on needle tips for its up-to-date, practice-oriented information on the national recommendations for childhood, adolescent, and adult immunization. A 24-page periodical, published quarterly, needle tips is the only publication of its kind in the united states. The technical content of each issue is reviewed by the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc). In fiscal year 2014, iac published three online issues of needle tips in both pdf and magazine view formats. Current and past issues are available on the iac website at www.immunize.org/nt. Vaccinate adults: vaccinate adults is cdc-reviewed and provides concise, readable, up-to-date information tailored for busy healthcare professionals whose practices are focused on adults. A 12- to 18-page periodical, vaccinate adults is published quarterly. In fiscal year 2014, iac published three online issues of vaccinate adults in both pdf and magazine view formats. Current and past issues are available on the iac website at www.immunize.org/va. Iac express: currently emailed free of charge to nearly 50,000 opt-in subscribers every tuesday, iac express provides up-to-date information about new and updated cdc vaccine recommendations, new fda vaccine licensures, newly released vaccine information statements, new immunization education materials, current events in the vaccine world, and journal articles. Special editions of iac express are also published when there are urgent matters to be reported on. During fiscal year 2014, iac published 65 issues of iac express containing more than 730 articles on vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases. The current issue, as well as the more than 1,140 issues published since iac express's beginning in 1997, is available online at www.immunize.org/express. Ask the experts: ask the experts is a recurring feature of needle tips, vaccinate adults, iac express, and www.immunize.org in which cdc experts answer challenging and timely questions about vaccines and their administration. Questions are gathered from iac's close communications with clinicians who provide immunization services as well as from iac and cdc staff who analyze the latest changes to vaccine recommendations. More than 1,000 q&as are available online at www.immunize.org/askexperts. Unprotected people reports: since 1998, iac has collected and published personal stories and case reports of people who have suffered or died from vaccine-preventable diseases. We believe that unprotected people reports are extremely important in helping parents and the media understand the value of vaccines. These reports can be particularly effective in countering stories claiming harm from vaccines. Currently, 108 reports are available on-line at www.immunize.org/reports. Educational materials for healthcare professionals, their patients, and the public: iac is the most relied upon source of free cdc-reviewed immunization materials for healthcare professionals, their patients, and the public. During fiscal year 2014, 2.9 million copies of iac's 317 educational pieces were downloaded. All of iac's educational materials are available online free of charge and ready-to-copy at www.immunize.org/handouts. Iac believes it is very important to provide information for non-english speaking patients and the public. We currently provide spanish translations of 49 of our patient/parent handouts. Some of these pieces are also translated into several of 12 additional languages. Translations of vaccine information statements (viss): for more than a decade, iac has maintained an online index of the federally mandated viss for which hundreds of translations are available. The index can be viewed at www.immunize.org/vis and can be sorted alphabetical”

“Website for healthcare professionals www.immunize.org: launched in 1994, one of the earliest websites devoted to immunization, www.immunize.org is the largest resource of practical, user-friendly immunization information available today, serving an average of more than 18,000 visitors per day in fiscal year 2014. The website makes available more than 4,000 web pages dedicated to educating healthcare professionals and the public about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases. Currently, the site ranks number one in google when searching on the term "immunize." some awards for website excellence are listed on www.immunize.org/aboutus/awards.asp. This website houses all of iac's publications and educational materials. They are available free of charge and users are encouraged to copy and distribute them. This collection includes all viss published in the united states in dozens of languages and some in alternative formats. In the past twelve months, users downloaded 5.7 million ready-to-copy (pdf) documents from the website, including approximately 2.4 million viss and their translations. Other noteworthy sections of the website include acip recommendations, fda product approval, vaccine policy statements from the american academy of pediatrics, diseases and vaccines, clinic resources, school-located vaccination, state vaccination laws, image library of vaccine-preventable diseases, and video of the week. Iac expert staff members continually review the recent immunization literature and select approximately 200 journal articles each year dealing with practical topics such as parental concerns about vaccines, providing vaccination services, immunization exemptions, and many others, and present links to those articles on the website at www.immunize.org/journalarticles. These selected journal articles, currently numbering more than 4,600 provide members of iac's professional audience with the ability to quickly keep up to date with the literature, finding the latest practical articles on topics of importance to them. Website for the public, vaccine information you need - www.vaccineinformation.org: developed in consultation with cdc, this website for the general public presents straightforward information about vaccine-preventable diseases and their vaccines. Launched in august 2002, it currently serves an average of more than 5,500 visitors per day, making more than 460 pages available. It provides basic information about vaccination, vaccine safety, and the overall importance of immunization, and features more than 260 vaccine-preventable disease photos and approximately 160 video clips. A major redesign was completed in january 2013 to provide better navigation and an improved layout of information about vaccination across the lifespan. Major sections include infants/children, preteens, teens, and adults. The website offers parents and people of all ages timely, accurate, and proven information about vaccines and the diseases they prevent. Hundreds of valuable resources, including personal testimonies of suffering and loss due to vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-related videos and public service announcements, and educational materials from trusted organizations are featured. Online database of immunization coalitions www.izcoalitions.org: this website provides access to an interactive online database of local, state, regional, national, and international immunization coalitions. The database allows interested healthcare professionals, parents, immunization advocates, and others to contact immunization coalitions for resources, ideas, or volunteering. Currently, 216 immunization coalitions have entered information about their structure and activities. Work has begun on a major redesign and expansion of the database information. Adult vaccination resources library: this searchable online library of adult immunization resources gathers adult immunization resources into one location, allowing healthcare providers and the gener”

“Program: partnering for immunization iac is broadly and deeply connected to every level of the united states immunization community. We serve as an independent "communications hub" through our publications, websites, email news services, conference organizing and participation, contributions to policy making, and direct contact with every vaccine-involved federal agency, state health department, professional medical association, and vaccine manufacturer. Virtually all of america's professional medical societies partner with iac as members of our advisory board. A list of these societies is available online at www.immunize.org/aboutus/advisoryboard.asp. National adult and influenza immunization summit (naiis): the naiis is a partnership led by cdc, the national vaccine program office, and iac, of more than 140 organizations represented by over 800 individuals, resulting from combining the national influenza vaccine summit (nivs) and the national adult immunization summit (nais). Iac's chief strategy officer, dr. L.j tan, while at the ama in the year 2000, founded the nivs, which was at that time a joint venture of the american medical association (through 2012) and cdc. Since 2003, iac has been a leading member of naiis, continuing to serve as the naiis fiscal agent and managing its website at www.izsummit partners.org. The five naiis work groups take specific actions that lead to improvements in vaccine uptake. Vaccination interventions for nursing assistants and aides (vinaa): the goal of the vinaa project is to prevent influenza and pneumonia among residents and healthcare providers in long-term care facilities (ltcfs) by improving vaccination rates among nursing assistants. Vinaa is a collaboration between iac and ofstead & associates, inc. (an independent public health research firm) to implement and evaluate a customized, evidence-based program in ltcfs in four midwestern states. The project is funded by a partnership grant from pfizer vaccines and will end in summer 2015 pocket guides: vaccine pocket guides are designed for use by healthcare personnel and include information on vaccine indications and contraindications, targeted populations, how to administer vaccine(s), and talking points for patients. The guides are laminated for durability, printed in easy-to-spot colors, and sized to fit in a shirt or lab coat pocket (3-3/4" x 6-3/4"). More than 500,000 guides were distributed during fiscal year 2014 covering influenza and pneumococcal vaccines. National network for immunization coalitions: iac founded the national network for immunization coalitions in 2012. Iac manages the group's communications and deliberations, including an email listserv, newsletters, and website databases. Iac also arranges speakers for bimonthly conference calls and webinars attended by an average of 85 participants. Currently, the network comprises approximately 600 immunization advocates, including representatives from more than 200 coalitions. Iac has served on the planning committee for the biennial national conference on immunization and health coalitions since the conference began in 1998. Immunization policy and conferences: iac is deeply involved in state and national vaccine policy making. Some examples: for more than a decade, dr. Wexler, dr. Tan, iac's associate director for immunization education, dr. William l. Atkinson, and ms. Peterson have filled important consulting positions on many advisory committee on immunization practices (acip) working groups, including childhood immunization schedule, adult immunization schedule, general recommendations, combination vaccines, influenza, herpes zoster, evidence-based, pneumococcal, hepatitis, pertussis, and meningococcal-hib. Dr. L.j tan is a former voting member of the national vaccine advisory committee (nvac) and has served as chair of its immunization infrastructure working group, as well as serving on the vaccine safety, maternal immunization, adult immunization, health care perso”

“Dr. Wexler, dr. Tan, dr. Atkinson, and ms. Peterson give presentations on vaccine policy at state immunization conferences, explaining how vaccine policy is made at the state and national levels and how people can get involved at the local level. Dr. Tan provides consultation internationally to the european scientific working group of the eu influenza summit, and to the asian pacific alliance for the control of influenza, and gives presentations nationally and internationally on immunization policy making and advocacy. Dr. Wexler and ms. Wood served on the former international vaccine stability working group, which was tasked with aligning vaccine storage and handling policies with recommendations based on science and expertise derived from organizations around the world. From september 2003 through november 2005, dr. Wexler served as the founding chair of the national viral hepatitis roundtable (nvhr), and was a member of its steering committee through 2010. Dr. Tan also served on the steering committee of the nvhr for three years. Hepatitis b vaccine birth dose project: for more than a decade, iac has helped lead the national effort to ensure that every newborn receives a birth dose of hepatitis b vaccine prior to discharge from the newborn nursery. We have completed a guidebook for implementing birth dose policies titled hepatitis b: what hospitals need to do to protect newborns and have recently launched a national campaign urging birthing institutions to adopt hepatitis b vaccine birth dose policies. As part of this initiative, iac has developed the hepatitis b vaccine birth dose honor roll. To be included in the honor roll, a birthing institution must have: (1) reported a coverage rate of 90% or greater, over a 12-month period, for administering hepatitis b vaccine before hospital discharge to all newborns, including those whose parents refuse vaccination, and (2) implemented specific written policies, procedures, and protocols to protect all newborns from hepatitis b virus infection prior to hospital discharge. Honorees are listed on iac's website, awarded a certificate, and featured in iac express. Currently, the honor roll includes 118 birthing institutions. School-located vaccination network: iac continues to work toward its goal of becoming the central location for promoting and developing school-located vaccination programs (slv). The slv web section online at www.immunize.org/school-vaccination features resources and materials from across the u.s. The slv listserv enables the nation's leaders in school-located vaccination to communicate and collaborate on a continuing basis.”

“Honor roll for patient safety: in 2009, iac created the honor roll for patient safety, which recognizes healthcare settings that have implemented mandatory influenza vaccination policies for healthcare workers. To date, more than 400 healthcare institutions have been honored. The honorees are listed at www.immunize.org/honor-roll. Voices for vaccines: after conceiving the idea for a membership organization of parents dedicated to promoting the value of immunization, dr. Wexler co-founded voices for vaccines along with dr. Stanley plotkin and dr. Paul offit. Vaccine facts and policy public database: in collaboration with george washington university and the association of immunization managers, iac is creating an online data base of statistics and policies covering each of the 50 states, washington, dc, the eight u.s. Territories, and the five major cities with federally funded immunization programs. Information resource and customer service: iac makes a tremendous effort to answer email and phone inquiries from healthcare professionals and the public in a timely and accurate manner. Staff members respond to thousands of email messages and phone calls each month. Iac in the media: iac staff members are often called on to provide accurate information to print, radio, television, and internet news media. Some recent contacts with media include the associated press, boston globe, cronkite news service, elsevier journal, infectious disease news, journal of the american medical association, media planet, medscape, national geographic, philadelphia inquirer, new york post, the source/joint commission resources, spry magazine, vaccine, wall street journal, washington post, and webmd. When vaccines are portrayed inaccurately in the entertainment or news media, iac often responds with authoritative information about the issue and a reminder about the positive and negative power of the media on american attitudes and beliefs”

“Database consultant: program service expenses 5,150. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 5,150. Design consultant: program service expenses 40,896. Management and general expenses 7. Fundraising expenses 45. Total expenses 40,948. Admin consultant: program service expenses 670. Management and general expenses 25,338. Fundraising expenses 5,421. Total expenses 31,429. Misc consultant: program service expenses 28,538. Management and general expenses 492. Fundraising expenses 123. Total expenses 29,153. Writer/epidemiologist consultant: program service expenses 38,808. Management and general expenses 4,658. Fundraising expenses 11. Total expenses 43,477. Research/grant/writer consultant: program service expenses 7,993. Management and general expenses 181. Fundraising expenses 18. Total expenses 8,192. Projects consultant: program service expenses 51,762. Management and general expenses 1,326. Fundraising expenses 24. Total expenses 53,112. Writer/technical review consultant: program service expenses 9,791. Management and general expenses 10. Fundraising expenses 3. Total expenses 9,804. Public health coordinator: program service expenses 56,224. Management and general expenses 158. Fundraising expenses 2. Total expenses 56,384. Creative consultant: program service expenses 22,312. Management and general expenses 104. Fundraising expenses 434. Total expenses 22,850. Director of iz education: program service expenses 42,800. Management and general expenses 48. Fundraising expenses 12. Total expenses 42,860. Editing consult: program service expenses 8,134. Management and general expenses 21. Fundraising expenses 230. Total expenses 8,385. Translations: program service expenses 33,431. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 33,431. Benefits service fee: program service expenses 626. Management and general expenses 56. Fundraising expenses 14. Total expenses 696. Payroll service fee: program service expenses 1,817. Management and general expenses 221. Fundraising expenses 40. Total expenses 2,078. Allocate joint costs - other prof fees: program service expenses -612. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 613. Total expenses 1. Vinaa project co-principal investigator: program service expenses 234,828. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 234,828.”