New Immunization Recommendations for Children
A new recommendation for the flu shot have just been unveiled by three leading U.S. health groups.
The revised 2009 schedule calls for mandated yearly flu shots for children from 6 months through 18 years! The mandate right now in New Jersey is from children from 6 months to 59 months of age.
The new recommendation increases the number of eligible children by approximately 30 million.
These new recommendations come from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
“Vaccination is the best protection against influenza,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, said in a news release issued Wednesday. “This important update to the childhood immunization schedule helps us extend protection from influenza and its complications to all children between the ages of 6 months and 18 years, not just those at highest risk of complications from influenza.”
Recommendations for inoculation against rotavirus (a disease that causes diarrhea in young children) include changes for the maximum ages for vaccination. The first dose should be given by 15 weeks of age. The latest age any dose may be given is 15 months. If the vaccine Rotarix is administered at ages 2 and 4 months, a dose at 6 months is not needed, the news release said.
The revised schedule also has recommendation for the HPV vaccine. Routine dosing intervals should be used for series catch-up, the second and third doses should be administered two and six months after the first dose. The third dose should be given at least 24 weeks after the first dose, the release said.
The problem for me is that I think these mandated vaccinations should work for them to be mandated. Last year’s flu shot was only 44% effective, a new study suggests, the least effective flu vaccine in a decade! The HPV vaccine does not work for every strain of HPV.
What do you think of these new recommendations for this immunizations? Do you feel confident in all the vaccines that are required for your child, or do you delay some vaccinations?
CDC, infants, vaccinations, mandatory flu shot, immunizations, immunization schedule, vaccination reactions, should you vaccinate your baby, parenting, parenting children, children, babies
January 5th, 2009 at 10:38 am
i’m not a huge fan of the flu vaccine. My children have gotten all of their vaccines, including the chicken pox one, but I’ve only had one child get the flu vaccine once (because she got the flu TWO YEARS IN A ROW). The year she got the vaccine I’m not sure if she didn’t get the flu because of the vaccine, or because she’d had her tonsils removed, which actually eliminated most of the constant fevers she would get.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:54 am
I find this really disturbing. I hope that they just remain recommendations and don’t become mandated.
If all of these kids get the flu shot, I’m sure we’ll be seeing all kinds of side effects in record numbers– asthma, diabetes, autoimmune disorders and worse, maybe Alzheimers at 40. We are creating a society of the weak and infirm that will have to rely more and more on medications just to get through life. This is really sad.
How about instead of jabbing every kid, we teach everyone to wash their hands properly and to stay home when they’re sick. What a concept: proper hygiene.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:18 am
My kids have never had the flu vaccine and I am very glad.
Maria, I couldn’t agree more. Riley is staying home from school today because she has a cough. I have my kids wash their hands often, eat healthy and I give them vitamins and an immunity booster everyday in the winter. I think it is why they rarely get sick.
I wish more people questioned WHY these more and more vaccines are becoming required.