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Expansion of the vaccination schedule, especially in the first 2 years of life, has led to a rise in alternative schedules designed to reduce the number of vaccines given at each visit. Studies show that many physicians comply with parental requests to space out vaccines (NEJM JW Pediatr Adolesc Med Apr 2015 and Pediatrics 2015; 135:666).
To examine adherence to the CDC-endorsed schedule, researchers analyzed provider-verified data from the 2014 National Immunization Survey for children ages 19 to 24 months. The researchers classified vaccine schedules as recommended, alternate (restrictive: at least 6 visits, each with ≤3 vaccines; selective: omission of at least 1 vaccine; or both), or unclassifiable/unknown. Findings include:
63% of childr…