"Parents should be aware that the vaccine schedule is updated every year," Cody Meissner, MD, a consultant to the AAP's Committee on Infectious Disease who helped update the new schedule, tells WebMD.
"It's updated as we acquire new vaccines that are licensed by the FDA, and it's updated as we gain new information about the optimal times to administer different vaccines,'' says Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine and chief of pediatric infectious diseases, Tufts Medical Center, Boston.
This year's schedule addresses all the recommended vaccines during childhood and adolescence, with changes involving these vaccines:
- Hepatitis B
- Pneumococcal
- Seasonal influenza
- Meningococcal
- Whooping cough or pertussis
- Haemophilus influenzae type B
- Human papillomavirus or HPV
The updated schedule has been approved by the AAP, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the American Academy of Family Physicians. The pediatricians have also issued a catch-up schedule for children and teens ages 4 months through 18 years who started immunizations late or who are behind by more than a month.
The new information on immunizations is published online in the journal Pediatrics.
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