H1N1 and HPV shots now standard for children.

The U.S. has revised it’s official vaccine schedule for children. It is now recommended that children older than 6 months get the H1N1 influenza vaccine as standard protocol.

Dr. David Kimberlin, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases and a liaison to the Centers for Disease Control panel that helped author the recommendations, says the guidelines also say combination vaccines are generally preferred over separate injections.

“Most of these recommendations are for vaccines and boosters that almost every pediatrician and family physician knows about and already is using,” Kimberlin said in a statement. 

”The bottom line here is vaccines save lives, improve the health of all children and benefit families and communities.”

The updated schedule includes new vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Among these are the H1N1 vaccine and a human papillomavirus vaccine for girls, known as the HPV2 vaccine, designed to protect females from two strains of the virus associated with more than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases.

The new schedule also encourages doctors to recommend the earlier HPV4 vaccine for boys ages 9 and older, offering protection from four strains of the virus and reducing the likelihood of male genital warts. Children at-risk for meningococcal disease should get a booster shot of meningococcal conjugate vaccine three years after their initial MCV4 dose at ages 2-6, the guidelines say.

Pewgnant women and young kids are considered high risk for the flu virus.

In related news, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is recommending that public education campaigns should encourage patients at high risk for severe influenza to get vaccinated.

The CDC and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released last week said it is crucial that medical providers offer early anti-viral therapy for children under age 2 and to patients with underlying risk conditions.

In addition to young children and pregnant women, those at most risk of H1N1 include those with:

• Asthma.
• Disorders of the brain, spinal cord, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, stroke, intellectual disability, muscular dystrophy, or spinal cord injury.
• Chronic lung disease.
• Heart disease and blood disorders such as sickle cell disease.
• Diabetes mellitus.
• Kidney disorders
• Liver disorders.
• Weakened immune system due to disease, medication, HIV, AIDS, or cancer.
• People under age 19 who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy.
• People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The report says that last spring, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found of the first 99 patients hospitalized with H1N1, 59 percent were age 17 or younger and 74 percent had one or more underlying medical condition that increase risk of complications from influenza, putting them at greater risk for developing severe illness. Among hospitalized patients, 48 percent had asthma and some 60 percent of adults and 18 percent of children were obese.

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