CDC Adds Covid-19 Shots to List of Routine Vaccines for Kids and Adults

CNN | By Janelle Chavez

Covid-19 shots are included in new schedules of routinely recommended vaccines released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. The immunization schedules summarize current vaccine recommendations for children, adolescents and adults, but do not set vaccine requirements for schools or workplaces.

Key changes to the schedules, published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on Thursday, include the addition of Covid-19 primary vaccine series and recommendations on booster dose vaccination; updated guidance on influenza and pneumococcal vaccines; and new vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and for hepatitis B.

The schedule also recommends additional doses of MMR vaccine during a mumps outbreak and administering inactivated poliovirus vaccine in adults who are at an increased risk for exposure to the virus.

The proposed changes were recommended by the CDC's vaccine advisers, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices or ACIP, and signed off on by the CDC, which worked with physicians, nurses and pharmacists on the recommendation.

The biggest change, the report's authors told CNN, is incorporating Covid-19 vaccines into both schedules.

"This means COVID-19 vaccine is now presented as any other routinely recommended vaccine and is no longer presented in a special "call out" box as in previous years. This, in a sense, helps 'normalize' this vaccine and sends a powerful message to both healthcare providers and the general public that everyone ages 6 months and older should stay up to date with recommended COVID-19 vaccines (including a booster, when eligible), just as they would with any other routinely recommended vaccine," Dr. Neil Murthy and Dr. A. Patricia Wodi said in a statement.

However, including Covid-19 vaccines on the routine schedule does not mean vaccination will be required by schools. School-entry vaccination requirements are determined by state or local jurisdictions, and not by CDC.

The new recommendations also add the use of PCV15, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine used to treat bacterial infection recently approved for use in children. Either PCV13 or the higher valent PCV15 may now be used based on the specific pediatric population.

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