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Child, teen immunization schedule revised for 2018
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Updated child and adolescent immunization schedules for 2018 have been approved, with changes made to catch-up schedules for vaccination and removal of unavailable vaccines, according to a policy statement issued by the AAP.
“The recommended childhood and adolescent immunization schedules for 2018 have been approved by the AAP, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the CDC, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,” Carrie L. Byington, MD, FAAP, chairperson of the Committee on Infectious Diseases, and colleagues wrote. “The schedules are revised annually to reflect current recommendations for the use of vaccines licensed by the U.S. FDA.”
The title page now includes a list of abbreviations and brand names commonly used for immunizations. No changes have been made to Figure 1, which supplies suggestions on vaccination for children from birth to 18 years of age.
Byington and colleagues also note that two changes have been implemented for use in Figure 2:
- Rows describing rotavirus immunization schedules have been expanded to include the maximum age at which a child may be administered their first or last doses of the series; and
- The catch-up schedules for polio vaccination have been clarified for children aged 4 and older.
No new recommendations have been provided regarding the age when Haemophilus influenzae type b, pneumococcal and pertussis-containing vaccines are administered or the time between immunizations; however, some slight changes to verbiage have been made. Additionally, information on immunization for children between the ages of 0 and 18 years with HIV has been included in Figure 3.
According to the statement, footnotes have also been simplified in an easy-to-read and simplified format that displays all relevant information in bullet points. Additionally, language that was deemed unnecessary was removed from this section.
Several of these footnotes have also been modified, including the following:
- The scheduling of a birth dose of hepatitis B immunization has been included for infants with a birthweight under 2,000 g to mothers without the disease;
- MenHibrix (bivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine and H. influenzae type b conjugate vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline) has been removed from the schedule because it is no longer available, and all doses have expired;
- Language used regarding immunization against influenza has been changed to clarify that the live-attenuated influenza vaccine should not be used for the 2017-2018 season;
- Footnote 11 has been modified to discuss quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccines only. A separate footnote has been included to discuss serogroup B meningococcal vaccines;
- Language has been changed to further guide patients who have received oral polio immunization at any point in their series; and
- Recommendations on a third dose of a mumps-containing vaccine as a preventive measure in an outbreak have been provided.
The organizations recommend that adverse events experienced by patients after immunization that are clinically significant should be reported using the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. – by Katherine Bortz
Disclosure: Infectious Diseases in Children was unable to determine relevant financial disclosures prior to publication.
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