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ForwardJPHC CE: Monitoring Vaccine Safety: United States Vaccine Safety Surveillance Systems
1.0 NAPNAP contact hour of which contain 1.0 pharmacology content. This continuing education activity is offered free to NAPNAP Members. For nonmembers, this continuing education activity rate is $10. Immunization is an effective public health tool to protect children from hospitalization and death from vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccine safety monitoring is essential to understand risks of vaccination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention closely monitors vaccine safety through multiple surveillance systems, including V-safe, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), and the Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) network. This paper briefly discusses each surveillance system and available evidence that healthcare providers can use to respond to common vaccine concerns. As trusted sources of information about vaccines, pediatric nurses and nurse practitioners need to understand how vaccine safety is monitored, where to access reliable resources about vaccines, and when and where to report adverse events noted after vaccination.
J Pediatr Health Care (2026) 40 Issue 1, P174-186.
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Participants are forbidden to reproduce, republish, redistribute, or resell this course in any other form. For copyright-related questions, please email your question to: [email protected]
Copyright © 2025 by the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
This continuing education activity is administered by the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) as an Agency providing continuing education credit. Individuals who complete this program and earn a 70% or higher score on the post test will be awarded 1.0 NAPNAP contact hour of which contain 1.0 pharmacology content.
Keywords: Vaccines, surveillance, postmarketing product, pediatrics
Target Audience
Pediatric-focused advanced practice registered nurses
Learning Objectives
1. Examine the role of the pediatric nurse practitioner in addressing safety concerns of parents
2. Describe the approval process for vaccines in the United States.
3. Describe goals of current CDC vaccine safety surveillance systems.
4. Describe strengths and limitations of the US vaccine safety surveillance systems
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Lauren Head Zauche, PhD, CPNP-PC, RN, Nurse Consultant, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC, Atlanta, GA.
Elaine R. Miller, MPH, RN, Epidemiologist, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC, Atlanta, GA.
Sehwa S. Kim, MSHI, RN, Nurse Consultant, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC, Atlanta, GA.
Amelia Jazwa, MSPH, Health Scientist, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC, Atlanta, GA.
David K. Shay, MD, MPH, Medical Officer, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC, Atlanta, GA.
Disclosure and Conflict of Interest:
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this article.
Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Correspondence:
Lauren Head Zauche, PhD, CPNP-PC, RN, 1600 Clifton Road, Mailstop H16-3, Atlanta, GA 30333
e-mail: [email protected]
Available Credit
- 1.00 Contact hours