vaccination

CDC Releases 2021 Immunization Schedules

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has released its 2021 adult and pediatric immunization schedules, including interim recommendations on the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

The schedule has also been approved by the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

Changes to the adult immunization schedule include new or updated recommendations for the influenza vaccine, hepatitis A vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine, human papillomavirus vaccine, pneumococcal vaccines, meningococcal serogroups A, C, W, and Y vaccines, meningococcal B vaccines, and zoster vaccine. Most notably, the live herpes zoster vaccine has been removed from the schedule due to a lack of availability in the United States.

Overall, however, the schedule remains mostly unchanged from 2020.

The pediatric immunization schedule includes changes and updates to the influenza vaccine, meningococcal serogroups A, C, W, and Y vaccines, and COVID-19 vaccines, as well as clarifications regarding the diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine, Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine (Hib), hepatitis A vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine, human papillomavirus vaccine, pneumococcal vaccines, measles, mumps, and rubella virus vaccine, tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis vaccine, and varicella vaccine.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

  1. Freedman MS, Ault K, Bernstein H. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Immunization Schedule for Adults Aged 19 Years or Older — United States, 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021;70:193–196. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7006a2
  2. Wodi AP, Ault K, Hunter P, McNally V, Szilagyi PG, Bernstein H. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Immunization Schedule for Children and Adolescents Aged 18 Years or Younger — United States, 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021;70:189–192. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7006a1