New Pediatric Immunization Schedule Contains Few Changes

By Anne Harding

NEW YORK - The updated childhood and adolescence immunization schedule for 2016 includes new guidance on vaccine catch-up for high-risk groups and use of the meningococcal vaccine in older teens.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists approved the 2016 schedule, which can be accessed online here: bit.ly/1zTZwj5.

The AAP's Committee on Infectious Diseases revises the vaccine schedule every year. "We try and indicate the vaccines that are needed, the time range in which they are to be given, and also the situation in terms of when catch-up is needed," Dr. Kathryn Edwards, a professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a member of the 2015-2016 committee, told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.

"There really aren't any surprising aspects to the work," Dr. Edwards added, noting that no new vaccines have been introduced.

The Committee on Infectious Diseases statement with the guidelines, published online February 1 in Pediatrics, also emphasizes the importance of reporting adverse events to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (www.vaers.hhs.gov or 800-822-7967).

The 2016 immunization schedule also includes a new blue bar that indicates that the meningococcal vaccine can be considered in 16- to 18-year-olds in non-high-risk groups, subject to individual decision making, and a suggestion to consider earlier human papillomavirus vaccination in children who have been sexually abused.

SOURCE: bit.ly/1SqxEw6

Pediatrics 2016.

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