Updated Vaccination Recommendations for Children and Adolescents

Numerous national health organizations have come together in sponsorship of a new vaccination schedule for children and adolescents. Organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) (in addition to several others) recently published these important updates. For those who vaccinate, keep reading to learn more about the changes in vaccination recommendations that pediatric healthcare providers across the country should be following when treating their younger patients.

Changes You Should Be Aware of

After meeting in late 2022, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or the ACIP released its newly updated 2023 U.S. childhood immunization schedule and vaccination recommendations for children. Here are some examples of what has changed since the previous year:

• Changes to the COVID-19 vaccination, including the immunization schedule for children ages 6 months to 18-years-old, specific recommendations for high-risk populations, including immunocompromised children, and details about booster doses with hyperlinks to ensure access to the most recent and up-to-date recommendations
• Alterations in the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, such as the addition of PCV15 with a hyperlink to the CDC app, information that PCV13 and PCV15 can be used interchangeably and clarification on the minimum interval between doses 3 and 4 with details about when a fourth dose is recommended
• Changes to the influenza vaccination schedule, like clarification that the live attenuated influenza vaccine, or LAIV, should not be administered to close contacts of highly immunocompromised individuals due to associated health risks
• MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine changes that include the recommendation to administer an additional MMR vaccine during a mumps outbreak, inclusion of a combined MMR-VZV (MMRV) vaccine option, but with the precaution when administering to children with a personal or family history of seizure, given that there is a small increased risk for febrile seizure in recipients of the MMRV, and inclusion of a newly-licensed MMR vaccine, Priorix
• One change to the polio vaccine recommendations, which pertains to recommendations for the inactivated poliovirus vaccine in 18-year-olds who face excess risk for exposure to polioviruses

To learn more about the ACIP’s recommendations, please visit the CDC’s page on child and teen immunization schedules by age. You can visit the website simply by clicking here: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/child-adolescent.html.

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