ACIP issues 2018 child and adolescent vaccine schedule

CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have issued the 2018 immunization schedule for children and adolescents. The updated scheduled includes guidance on use of an optional third dose of mumps-containing vaccine during a mumps outbreak, clarifies timing for giving newborns the hepatitis B vaccine, and also whether children should receive two or three doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. For the influenza vaccine, the recommendation continues to be that all children aged 6 months and older should be vaccinated. An author of the policy statement on the 2018 recommendations, Cody Meissner, MD, director of pediatric infectious disease at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, notes: "It's not too late to get the influenza vaccine. Even though it's not as good as other vaccines that we think of, it's the best intervention available. And for those 60% of those who get the vaccine but still get influenza, it's probably still a milder disease than if they had never been vaccinated." ACIP, AAP, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists approve each year an updated immunization schedule. This year's schedule was published online Tuesday on CDC's website and in Pediatrics.