AAP approves childhood immunization schedules for 2014

(HealthDay)—The recommended childhood and adolescent immunization schedules for 2014 have been approved, according to an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policy statement published in the Feb. 1 issue of Pediatrics.

Michael T. Brady, M.D., chairperson of the AAP Committee on Infectious Disease, and colleagues present the AAP-approved recommended childhood and adolescent immunization schedules for 2014. The format includes a single schedule for children aged 0 to 18 years, and also indicates the recommended dose number by age, recommended catch-up ages, and ages when a vaccine is not recommended routinely.

Changes to the 2013 schedule include a footnote to the tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis vaccine, which includes information on a single lifetime dose of vaccine for individuals older than 7 years, except for pregnant adolescents; the Haemophilus influenza type b footnote clarifies vaccination of 12- to 59-month-old children at increased risk; the influenza vaccine footnote describes dosing for children aged 6 months through 8 years and age 9 years and older; and the hepatitis A vaccine footnote details those children who are at increased risk of hepatitis A.

"The 2014 recommended childhood and adolescent immunization schedules have been approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists," the authors write.