The recommended childhood and adolescent immunization schedules for 2013 have been approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
There was a change in design this year because the complexity of the schedules has increased and there has not been enough space for new information in the footnotes. Thus, there will be a single schedule for children and teens aged 0-18 years rather than divide the schedule into one for children under age 6 years and one for those aged 7-18 years. The catch-up schedule for children and adolescents who start late or are more than 1 month behind is unchanged. Footnotes for all the schedules have been combined (MMWR 2013;62:1-19).
Specific changes from last year include:
• The rotavirus vaccine footnote specifies the number of doses for RV1 and RV5.
• The CDC recommends Tdap for pregnant adolescents and adults during each pregnancy in response to rising cases of pertussis nationally and the appreciation that the greatest burden of disease, morbidity, and mortality occurs in infants before they are protected by their primary series with DTaP.
• The Haemophilus influenzae type b footnote states that only one dose should be given to unvaccinated children 15 months of age or older.
A pocket version of the combined schedule can be found here.