WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- The 2012 recommended childhood and adolescent vaccination schedules have been approved, according to a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published in the February issue of Pediatrics.
Michael T. Brady, M.D., chairperson of the AAP's Committee on Infectious Diseases, and colleagues reviewed the 2012 recommended immunization schedules for children and adolescents.
The 2012 recommendations provide three immunization schedules and accompanying footnotes: one for children ages 0 to 6 years, one for children ages 7 to 18 years, and one for those who start late or fall more than one month behind schedule. Clarification is provided for administration of hepatitis B vaccine and immune globulin, as well as for tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis vaccine use. Guidance has been added for use of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine in infants ages 6 to 11 months who are travelling internationally; for administration of meningococcal vaccine to children at increased risk, and for routine administration of a booster dose; and for use of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine in the catch-up schedule. Footnotes have been updated to clarify influenza vaccine dosing; to emphasize administration of the second dose of hepatitis A vaccine; to include routine recommendations for vaccination of males with quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine; and to note that inactivated polio vaccine is not recommended for U.S. residents aged 18 years or older.
"Providers are advised to use all three schedules and their respective footnotes together, not as stand-alone schedules. These schedules are revised annually to reflect current recommendations for the use of vaccines licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration," the authors write.
Policy Statement