A $300,000 two-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was recently awarded to UCSD Medical Center, the County of San Diego Immunization Branch, Children’s Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, Scripps Health hospitals and Sharp Healthcare hospitals, to increase influenza vaccination of hospital-based health care workers.
This consortium includes 75 percent of the hospitals in San Diego County and all of the large non-governmental hospitals in the county. The study is being coordinated by UCSD Medical Center’s Department of Pediatrics and Infectious Disease Division, under the guidance of Mark Sawyer, M.D., through a contract with the Immunization Branch of the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA). The consortium workgroup comprises epidemiologists and infection control practitioners from each participating hospital, and county public health researchers.
“Immunization of health care workers is a high priority of CDC for this year’s flu season, both to reduce illness among employees and to protect patients,” said Sawyer.
Funding is being used to collect and share best immunization practices currently utilized by the hospitals, facilitate new interventions to immunize their staff, and evaluate costs and benefits to employees and employers for increased influenza immunization among the major hospital systems in San Diego County.
San Diego County has a long history of successful collaborative projects with the HHSA Immunization Branch, UCSD, local hospitals, local health care providers and community agencies.
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