Clinicians consulting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices vaccination schedules for children, adolescents, and adults in 2019 will find a simpler design and more useful product, according to David Kim, MD, of the Immunization Services Division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.
In a single vote to cover both adult and child/adolescent schedules, the committee voted unanimously in favor of a redesign of the schedules and several clinical updates.
In 2016, the working group for vaccination schedules conducted an ad hoc evaluation of the adult schedule to assess its usability, Dr. Kim said at a meeting of the CDC’s ACIP.
The design of the adult schedule was fully evaluated in 2018 via a three-step process – interviews with 48 health care providers, a redesign of the schedule, and a survey after the redesign. Design changes to the child/adolescent schedule were harmonized with the adult schedule, Dr. Kim explained.
The adult vaccination schedule itself includes several updates in ACIP recommendations in addition to the aesthetic design changes.
The 2019 Adult Immunization Schedule includes the option of the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) for influenza, the addition of homelessness as an indication for hepatitis A vaccination, and the use of CpG-adjuvanted hepatitis B vaccine, Dr. Kim said.
The additions to the 2019 Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule are the optional use of the LAIV for influenza, the addition of homelessness as an indication for hepatitis A vaccination, the use of CpG-adjuvanted hepatitis B vaccine (a cytosine phosphoguanosine oligodeoxynucleotide adjuvant), and the addition of the Tdap vaccination of individuals who received Tdap at age 7-10 years.
Some of the key design changes include the use of bright purple on the child/adolescent schedule to more easily distinguish it from the adult version, said Dr. Kim.
Other changes to both schedules include shorter titles, lists of vaccines and trade names, and compartmentalized information for easier reference. Figures have been replaced by tables, and footnotes are simply “Notes” at the end of the schedule, compartmentalized for easier reading, he said. In addition, the schedules include resources for vaccination in outbreak situations and a section on how to report vaccine preventable disease outbreaks.
The ACIP committee members had no relevant financial conflicts to disclose.