American Academy of Pediatrics accepts new recommendations for postexposure vaccine
TUESDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee has proposed a reduced schedule for prophylactic rabies vaccine, and the recommendations have been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, according to a policy statement published online March 28 in Pediatrics.
Michael T. Brady, M.D., and colleagues with the Committee on Infectious Diseases compiled the policy statement on the reduced dose schedule for rabies prevention proposed by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the CDC.
The committee recommends four doses, down from five, of human diploid cell vaccine or purified chick embryo cell vaccine given prophylactically postexposure on day zero, then days three, seven, and 14 after the first dose. The five-dose regimen should continue to be used in individuals with immune suppression, according to the committee, and no changes have been made to recommendations for the use of human rabies immunoglobulin.
"The American Academy of Pediatrics endorses these recommendations," the authors write.
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