The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that they revised their adult and child immunization schedules. The updates were suggested by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and approved by Jim O'Neill.
Key updates include practicing informed consent for COVID-19 vaccines and suggesting the chickenpox vaccine be separated from measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination in toddlers. The goal of this action is to encourage healthcare providers to educate parents and patients on COVID vaccines, and to prevent post- measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella vaccination febrile seizures in toddlers.
CDC’s immunization schedules define individual-based decision-making as “vaccination based on shared clinical decision-making, which references providers including physicians, nurses, and pharmacists. It means that the clinical decision to vaccinate should be based on patient characteristics that unlike age are difficult to incorporate in recommendations, including risk factors for the underlying disease as well as the characteristics of the vaccine itself and the best available evidence of who may benefit from vaccination.”
According to CDC’s announcement, individual-based decision-making vaccines are still covered by Medicare, Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program, and the Vaccines for Children Program, as well as insurance plans regulated by the Affordable Care Act.
