2018 Pediatric Immunization Schedule Published

By Kelly Young

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Lorenzo Di Francesco, MD, FACP, FHM

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has published its annual immunization schedule for children and adolescents through age 18 years.

Here are some of the adjustments from last year, as noted in Pediatrics:

• A third dose of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine may be given during a mumps outbreak to children at least 12 months old.

• The live attenuated influenza vaccine (FluMist) is not recommended for the current flu season.

• For infants born to mothers who are negative for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), those weighing less than 2000 grams should receive a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine at a chronological age of 1 month or at hospital discharge. Those weighing more should be vaccinated within 24 hours after birth. (For infants born to women who are positive for HBsAg, recommendations have not changed.)