Technically Speaking: CDC's 2015 Immunization Schedules for Children and Adults, and IAC's Summaries of Recommendations
Published on in Vaccine Update for Healthcare Providers
Published on in Vaccine Update for Healthcare Providers
At the beginning of each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with professional societies, releases updated versions of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended U.S. immunization schedules for children and teens as well as for adults. These updated schedules reflect changes that were made in vaccination recommendations during the previous year.
Recommended Immunization Schedules for Persons Aged 0 Through 18 Years, United States, 2015. This six-page schedule, which was published by CDC in late January, includes the age-based routine vaccination schedule for children and teens and the approved "catch-up" immunization schedule for people age 4 months through 18 years who start vaccination late or who are more than one month behind. The schedule also includes three pages of essential explanatory footnotes. An article in the February 6 MMWR (pages 93–94) provides a summary of the changes for 2015. CDC’s immunization schedule website offers multiple options for viewing or printing the schedules. Easy-to-read versions for parents also are available.
Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule, United States, 2015. The five-page “combined version” of the adult schedule provides recommendations by age group as well as medical condition, two pages of essential footnotes, and a final page summarizing the contraindications and precautions for adult vaccine use. An article in the February 6 MMWR (pages 91–92) summarizes changes to the adult guidance, including new pneumococcal vaccine recommendations. Like the childhood and adolescent schedules described above, several additional formats of the adult schedules, including patient-friendly versions, are available on the CDC website.
To make your job easier, the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) has just updated its two user-friendly documents that summarize the guidance contained in the current CDC/ACIP recommendations.
These summaries distill the ACIP recommendations for child, teen and adult immunization into two easy-to-use documents. Each summary includes the routine schedule, spacing between doses, schedules for catch-up vaccination, routes of administration, and contraindications and precautions for all routinely recommended vaccines in the United States.
These summaries of ACIP recommendations have long proved their value — for almost two decades, they have been top downloads from IAC's website for busy healthcare professionals. They have been reprinted in textbooks and state health department newsletters and distributed at countless medical, nursing and public health conferences. Print the summaries on card stock and place them in every exam room for easy reference by busy clinic staff.
Within the last year, IAC has updated almost all of the following specialized recommendation summaries for situations that providers often find confusing:
Take advantage of these summaries and more than 300 other ready-to-copy IAC materials for healthcare professionals and patients on the IAC website.
Contributed by: Deborah Wexler, MD
Categories: Vaccine Update Feb. 2015, Technically Speaking
Materials in this section are updated as new information and vaccines become available. The Vaccine Education Center staff regularly reviews materials for accuracy.
You should not consider the information in this site to be specific, professional medical advice for your personal health or for your family's personal health. You should not use it to replace any relationship with a physician or other qualified healthcare professional. For medical concerns, including decisions about vaccinations, medications and other treatments, you should always consult your physician or, in serious cases, seek immediate assistance from emergency personnel.