February 2001 • Volume 7 Number 2
New childhood immunization schedule includes additional vaccine
The 2001 Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule is ready for prime time. A new vaccination series has been added to this year's schedule, which was jointly developed by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the AAFP.
New this year: The heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is on the schedule. All children between ages 2 months and 23 months should now be routinely immunized with heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. The vaccine is administered at 2, 4, 6 and from 12 to 15 months of age.
The AAFP also recommends PCV immunization for children 24 to 59 months of age who are at high risk for invasive pneumococcal disease, such as those with certain medical conditions and children who are African-Americans, Alaskan Natives or American Indians. Vaccination of children in this same age group who attend day care or who have had frequent or complicated acute otitis media within the past year is considered a practice option. Consult the "AAFP Clinical Policy on Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine" at http://www.aafp.org/policy/camp/24.html for more information on pneumococcal conjugate vaccination.
Why was the PCV series added? "Data indicate that Streptococcus pneumoniae is responsible for about 3,000 cases of meningitis; 61,000 cases of bacteremia; between 100,000 and 135,000 cases of pneumonia necessitating hospitalization; and some 7 million cases of otitis media each year in the United States," says Richard Zimmerman, M.D., M.P.H., of Pittsburgh, who has been the Academy's ACIP representative. "The importance of routinely immunizing children against pneumococcal infection is further heightened by the increasing proportion of antibiotic-resistant S. pneumoniae strains."
For a copy of the new immunization schedule, go to http://aafp.org/x7666.xml, use the AAFP Express fax-on-demand system (see "Quick Fax" on page 8), or call the AAFP order department at (800) 944-0000 and request item #R974. Comprehensive AAFP immunization policies can be found at http://www.aafp.org/clinical.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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