This January the American Academy of Pediatrics updated in recommended vaccine schedule and some of the changes may affect your children. The recommendations were published in the January issue of Pediatrics but can also be found online at their website, www.aap.org.
Several of the updates involve changing recommendations for vaccines already in use by certain pediatric populations while other are new vaccines.
The new recommendation for the Varicella vaccine is additon of a booster between the ages of 4-6. Varicella is a rather new vaccine on the schedule and originally the CDC only recommended one injection after 2 years of age. But recent studies on the efficacy found lower than expected immunity rates with only one injection, so a booster is being added to the schedule.
The flu vaccine is now approved for infants age 6-59 months. Previous years recommendations only covered children age 5 and above. Because the flu can be very severe in an infant, progress has been made to make the vaccine more safe for infants as young as 6 months. The flu vaccine should be given once a year, usually in the fall months to cover the coming flu season.
A vaccine for rotavirus has been approved and added to the recommendations for infants age 2,4, and 6 months of age. Rotaviruses are responsible for most cases of severe diarrhea in infants and can result in severe dehydration and death. If all three doses are received, protection should sufficient through early childhood (age 5).
The final addition is for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Girls age 11-12 years should be given the first dose of the HPV vaccine. The primary goal of the vaccine is to prevent the spread of HPV, in particular the strains most associated with cervical cancer in women. Currently only one injection is recommended. If girls between the ages of 11 and 12 miss this vaccine it can be offered till age 18.
It is common for the American Academy of Pediatrics to review the available vaccines and to change recommendations based on disease trends and safety. Your healthcare provider should be able to answer any questions you have about any of these or other vaccine as well as help to determine if any of your children may need to 'catch-up' on these or other vaccines.
Posted by Dr. Christina Gutierrez on January 22, 2007 05:11 PM
