New immunization guidelines for kids and teens

The first known reference to malaria is in a Chinese medical text penned around 2700 B.C. Since then, no commercially available vaccine has been developed (one is scheduled for Africa next year, and others may be on the horizon). Upward of 430,000 people – mostly children – die annually from the disease.

Fortunately, there are effective vaccines against many other diseases (smallpox was declared eradicated in 1979), and in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues an annual update to help people use them most effectively. The 2017 advisory for kids and teens is out, and we recommend all the inoculations. (Your chance of having a problem versus preventing a life-threatening disease is one in 40,000.)

1. For the Hepatitis B vaccine: The birth dose of Hep B should be administered within 24 hours of birth.

2. For human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine: Children 9-10 years old may be vaccinated (even in the absence of a highrisk condition). And the HPV vaccine has been updated to include the new two-dose schedule for persons initiating the HPV vaccination series before age 15. The bivalent HPV vaccine has been removed from the schedule.

3. For the flu vaccine: Live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) has been removed from the schedule. Hiberix has been added to the list of vaccines that may be used for the primary vaccination series.

4. For the meningococcal vaccine: The CDC stresses the need for a meningococcal conjugate vaccine booster at age 16.

For an unabridged list of changes, go to www.cdc.gov and search for “2017 Immunization Schedules.”