Each year, there is a new immunization schedule for kids.
That is welcome news for pediatricians and parents who look forward to the new recommendations on how to help kids avoid vaccine preventable illnesses.
It is sometimes not so welcomed by kids who have been told that they won't need any more shots for awhile, only to find that they do need one or more now that the immunization schedule has changed.
2009 Childhood Immunization Schedule
Among the changes in the 2009 childhood immunization schedule are that:
- The first rotavirus vaccine can now be given between the ages of 6 days and 14 months old, replacing the previous recommendation that it not be given to infants who are over 32 weeks old, allowing about 3 extra weeks to get in the final dose.
- All children between the ages of 6 months and 18 years should get a yearly flu vaccine.
- Children over age 10 who have already gotten a tetanus shot (Td), but need immunity to pertussis too can get a Tdap booster even if it has been less than 5 years since their last tetanus shot.
- Although the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccine usually isn't given to children over age 5 years of age, one dose may be helpful for certain high risk children, including sickle cell disease, leukemia, or HIV infection, or if they have had a splenectomy.
- For children catching up on their Gardasil shots (the HPV vaccine), the routine dosing intervals should be used, with the second and third doses being given 2 and 6 months after the first dose.
- Some abbreviations on the vaccine schedule have been changed, including RV for rotavirus, PCV for the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (Prevnar), and MCV for the meningococcal conjugate vaccine (Menactra).
New Vaccines
Rotarix was the only really new vaccine that came out in 2008, but even this vaccine is simply an alternate version of the already available rotavirus vaccine.
There aren't any other new vaccines in the sense that your kids will get a new shot. But the following vaccines became available in only the last few years. So all parents may not be familiar with them yet.
Some, like Pentacel, Pediarix and Kinrix, are just combinations of other vaccines that offer some convenience and the prospect of fewer actual shots at each visit to your pediatrician.
Others are on the latest immunization schedule and so should be available to you.
- Rotarix - a two dose oral rotavirus vaccine
- RotaTeq - a three dose oral rotavirus vaccine
- Pentacel - a combination vaccine that includes the DTaP, IPV, and Hib vaccines into one shot
- Kinrix - a combination vaccine that includes the DTaP and IPV vaccines into a single shot
- Pediarix - a combination vaccine that includes the DTaP, IPV, and HepB vaccines into one shot
- Tdap boosters - the newer tetanus booster that includes protection against pertussis (whooping cough) and which is available as the Adacel and Boostrix vaccines and which should be given as a booster to kids when they are around 11 to 12 years of age
- Menactra - the meningococcal conjugate vaccine is given to kids when they are 11 to 12 years old and to older teens who haven't been vaccinated yet.
Also remember that a chicken pox vaccine (Varivax) booster shot is now recommended for kids, beginning when they are 4 years old. If your older child hasn't had chicken pox and hasn't had a booster shot, then he should get his chicken pox vaccine booster at his next well-child visit with his pediatrician.
Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recommended immunization schedules for persons aged 0 through 18 years---United States, 2009. MMWR 2009,57(51&52).
