2017 immunization schedule for children and adolescents released by CDC

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has released an updated immunization schedule for 2017 for children and adolescents.

Changes in the schedule include new or revised recommendations for influenza; human papillomavirus (HPV); hepatitis B; Haemophilus influenzae type B; pneumococcal, meningococcal; and the diphtheria, tetanus toxoids, and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccines.

The changes in the schedule include:

• The 16-year age has been separated from the 17-18–year age column to highlight the need for a meningococcal conjugate vaccine booster dose at 16 years of age.
• The live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) has been removed from the influenza row.
• A blue bar was added for the HPV vaccine for children between 9 and 10 years of age to indicate that children in this age group may be vaccinated.

The ACIP has also added a new figure to the schedule called “Vaccines that might be indicated for children and adolescents aged 18 years or younger based on medical indications.” The purpose of the figure is to demonstrate that most children with medical conditions can and should be vaccinated according to the ACIP immunization schedule. The figure also indicates when a medical condition is a precaution or contraindication to a vaccination and indicates when additional doses of vaccines may be necessary because of a child’s medical condition.

The committee also made several changes to the footnotes:

• The birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine should be administered within 24 hours of birth.
• The DTaP footnote was revised to clearly present recommendations following an inadvertently early administered fourth dose of the vaccine.
• Comvax was removed from the routine vaccination portion of the Haemophilus influenza type B vaccine. Hiberix has been added to the list of vaccines that can be used for this primary vaccination series.
• References to 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) have been removed from the pneumococcal vaccine footnote.
• The influenza vaccine footnote has been updated to indicate that LAIV should not be used during the 2016 to 207 influenza season.
• Recommendations for meningococcal vaccination of children with an HIV infection have been added to the meningococcal vaccines footnote. The footnote also includes recommendations for the use of the 2-dose Trumenba schedule.
• The TDaP footnote for the vaccination of pregnant adolescents between gestational weeks 27 and 36 has been revised to include a preference for vaccination earlier during this period.
• The HPV footnote now includes the new 2-dose schedule for individuals initiating the HPV vaccination series before 15 years of age. The bivalent HPV vaccine has also been removed from the schedule.

For more information about the 2017 child and adolescent immunization schedule, visit the CDC immunization schedule website.

Reference

1. Robinson CL, Romero JR, Kempe A, Pellegrini. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended immunization schedule for children and adolescents aged 18 years or younger—United States, 2017. MMWR. 2017;66(5):134-135.