ICCS Infection Prevention & Control Newsletter: January 2022

This issue covers some of the most significant news from January. Topics include Supreme Court rulings, health tech hazards, superbugs, LTC surveys, and vaccine mix-ups.

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ICYMI: Check out our Special Edition: 2021 Year in Review newsletter.

Supreme Court Upholds HHS' Vaccine Requirement for Healthcare Workers, Blocks OSHA's Large Employer Mandate — The Supreme Court decided to allow HHS to require COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare facilities employees but blocked the federal government's broader vaccine-or-mask mandate for employers with at least 100 employees.

ECRI's 2022 Health Technology Hazards List Includes Infection Issues — Multiple infection-related issues are highlighted in ECRI's 2022 annual list of top 10 health technology hazards.

Why Humans Are Losing the Race Against Superbugs — Drug-resistant bacteria are on the rise globally and killing more people annually than either HIV/AIDS or malaria.

CMS Clarifies COVID-Related LTC Survey Process — Long-term care providers have more information on how surveyors will interpret infection control and vaccination requirements moving forward after CMS updated guidance to the LTC survey process procedure guide.

New Study Suggests N95 Respirators Can Be Safely Reprocessed to Augment Supply in Future Epidemics — Study findings suggest no significant differences in respirator function or effectiveness after 25 decontamination cycles

Age-Related COVID-19 Vaccine Mix-Ups — The Institute for Safe Medication Practices issued an important alert for those administering adult and pediatric COVID-19 vaccines.

75% of COVID ICU Survivors Have Physical Symptoms 1 Year On — Another study shows the importance of looking at and discussing the impact of COVID in ways going beyond cases and deaths.

Machine Learning Predicts C. Diff Infection — Data show that several commonly used machine learning algorithms can accurately predict which hospitalized patients will become infected with C. diff.

Effectiveness of mRNA Vaccines Against COVID-19 Hospitalization by Age and Chronic Medical Conditions Burden Among Immunocompetent US Adults — A study found that mRNA vaccines reduced the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization by >95% in healthy adults without chronic medical conditions regardless of age, sex, obesity or race/ethnicity.