HHS Releases National Public Education Campaign for Respiratory Virus Season

To: NACDS Chain and Associate Members and Allied Groups From: Steven C. Anderson, FASAE, CAE, IOM, President & Chief Executive Officer Date: August 29, 2024

As you and your teams begin serving the public this respiratory virus season, we are sharing a new messaging campaign from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS' National Public Education Campaign for Respiratory Virus Season is a national integrated initiative with the goal of increasing awareness and uptake of vaccines that reduce severe illness from flu, COVID-19, and RSV in at-risk populations.

The HHS campaign - Risk Less. Do More. - and associated messaging, are available here.

HHS Campaign Overview

The White House and HHS have reached out to NACDS to help share this campaign with pharmacies, and in turn, NACDS is urging the federal government do their part as the nation enters the fall respiratory illness season.

Importantly, co-administration of vaccinations reduces the number of missed vaccination opportunities, supports broader disease protection, improves access and convenience for the public, and helps in keeping friends and family healthy. Pharmacies in particular have demonstrated their effectiveness in co-administration of vaccinations, and CDC has developed information to help educate the public on the safety of co-administration of COVID-19, flu, and RSV vaccines, available here.

Thank you for all that you do - and will continue to do - throughout this respiratory virus season to protect your staff teams and the Americans you serve every day.

The recent public health emergency further underscored pharmacies' unique and powerful reach - and their irreplaceable role in healthcare. During the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacists and pharmacy teams met the health and wellness needs of diverse and vulnerable Americans.

In total, pharmacies have administered nearly 340 million COVID-19 vaccinations - according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and IQVIA.

Drilling down, a CDC study released in April 2024 analyzes data on COVID-19 bivalent mRNA vaccine doses specifically between September 2022 and September 2023. The data demonstrates that pharmacies participating in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program (FRPP) administered two thirds of all bivalent COVID-19 vaccine doses in the U.S. during the study's one-year timeframe and provided vaccine access for patients across a wide range of sociodemographic groups.

Among the 59.8 million COVID-19 bivalent vaccine doses administered between September 2022 and September 2023, 40.5 million (67.7%) were administered by FRPP partners. The proportion of COVID-19 bivalent doses administered by FRPP partners ranged from 5.9% among children aged 6 months-4 years to 70.6% among adults aged 18-49 years. In addition, 81.6% and 60.0% of bivalent vaccine doses were administered in urban and rural areas, respectively.

Additionally, pharmacies administered 90% of all COVID-19 vaccines during the 2022-23 season - and 60% of all flu vaccines during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

Pharmacy teams always have stepped up, and that work is appreciated. As the 2024-25 season is underway, we will share developments from the government as they become available - and look forward to hearing reports from the field.

We appreciate all that you and your teams do every day to bolster preventive care.