Major changes in 2007 pediatric vaccine schedule

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued its annual recommended immunization schedules for children and adolescents in the United States -- these include extending the age range for influenza vaccination and giving the new human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, to girls between 11 and 12 years old.

The changes in the 2007 schedules, which were approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Family Physicians, include:

--Routine administration of oral live rotavirus vaccine to all infants at ages 2, 4, and 6 months. Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhea in infants and young children and kills roughly 500,000 children a year globally. In the US, it affects 2.7 million children in an average year and 75 percent of children get diarrhea from rotavirus by their 5th birthday.

--Administration of a second dose of varicella (chickenpox) vaccine to all children between 4 and 6 years of age.

--Administration of the HPV vaccine to girls 11 to 12 years of age, with a catch-up vaccine given to girls 13 to 18 years of age.

--Annual influenza (flu) vaccination has been expanded to include children between 6 and 59 months of age. Vaccination is also recommended for close contacts of children between 0 and 59 months of age.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, January 2007.