A Successful Public/Private Partnership
What is WIN?
The West Virginia Immunization Network (WIN) is a statewide coalition committed to elevating the essential roles vaccines play in preventing illnesses and protecting the health of all West Virginians. Established in 1996 by the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, WIN has steadily grown its membership base, and now has over 400 members from the public and private sector statewide. The West Virginia Center for Rural Health Development serves as the lead agency, with a Steering Committee of experts in the field, and staff, providing leadership and coordination. WIN collaborates closely with the West Virginia Department of Health’s Division of Immunization Services and other partner organizations to prevent disease by increasing immunization rates.
WIN’s mission is to protect West Virginia residents, across the lifespan, against vaccine-preventable diseases and emerging public health threats. We achieve our mission through the development and implementation of comprehensive evidence-based strategies, in collaboration with both statewide and community-based partners.
Regional Coalitions
To enable members to become more active in WIN, regional coalitions were established in the Northern, Southern, and Eastern portions of the state. The regional coalitions meet bi-annually in Morgantown, Beckley or Lewisburg, and Martinsburg.
WIN’s Work
To improve immunization rates among West Virginians, WIN focuses much of its work on:
- Training opportunities for healthcare professionals. WIN offers training opportunities that feature national and local speakers on a variety of immunization and vaccine-preventable disease topics. Continuing education credits are frequently offered at these trainings for physicians, physician assistants, nurses, and pharmacists. The trainings provide attendees with new and up-to-date information on immunizations, recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), disease surveillance, outbreak response, and best practices for improving immunization rates. In addition, the trainings enable participants to develop local networks through which they may work together to improve community vaccination coverage.
- Parent, patient and community education. Immunizations have become a victim of their own success. Due to their effectiveness, many dangerous illnesses have been eliminated or drastically reduced, saving lives and sparing countless families. However, as a result, our collective memories have lost the painful reality of polio, measles, meningitis, and other vaccine-preventable diseases. Many people feel a false sense of security, a misconception that these diseases are merely harmless relics of the past. Thus, to provide information to the public about the importance of immunization, WIN has developed a variety of educational materials, including adolescent and adult posters, postcards, and brochures; electronic toolkits; and more that are available at no cost throughout WV.
- Faces of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Campaign. As part of WIN’s work to educate the public about the dire consequences of vaccine-preventable diseases, WIN created its Faces of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases project to remind all why vaccines are essential to protect and preserve the health of our residents. Recent outbreaks of whooping cough and measles in the United States are evidence of the harmful consequences that can return when vaccination rates fall. And in today’s mobile society, people easily travel from place to place, thus, the potential to spread these resurgent diseases travels with them. The Faces of Vaccine Preventable Disease videos feature five individuals who have been impacted by a vaccine-preventable disease. Each profile puts a face on the statistics and shows the true cost in human suffering of not vaccinating.
