The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended that boys ages 11 and 12 should be vaccinated against human papillomavirus, or HPV, to protect them against certain cancers. It also recommended vaccination of males ages 13 through 21 who had not already had all three shots. Vaccinations may be given to boys as young as 9 and to men between the ages of 22 and 26.

The committee recommended in 2006 that girls and young women ages 11 to 26 should be vaccinated.

Dr. Keith English, Pediatrician in Chief for Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and Interim Chair for The University of Tennessee Department of Pediatrics, gave our readers his thoughts on this recent recommendation. Dr. English is also the head of Infectious Disease programs at Le Bonheur.

“I strongly support routine immunization of both males and females with the quadrivalent HPV vaccine as the most effective strategy to prevent HPV infections, to reduce transmission of HPV to women and men, to promote widespread herd protection and to prevent HPV-associated diseases in both women and men.”

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Target, has announced a voluntary recall of 3,400 children’s frog masks. The plush frog masks lack proper ventilation and when secured in place across a child’s face, it presents a suffocation hazard to the child.

This recall involves a child-sized frog-themed animal mask. The plush mask is green with yellow and red highlights. There are two eye cutouts and a green elastic band with a fastener used to secure the mask at the back of the child’s head. UPC code 06626491474 is printed on a label attached to the mask. The mask, manufactured in China, was sold exclusively at Target stores nationwide from August 2011 through September 2011.

Consumers should immediately take the masks from young children and return the product to any Target store for a full refund. For additional information, contact Target Guest Relations at (800) 440-0680 between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s website at www.target.com.

This information was taken from ctwatchdog.com.

Each year, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) publishes immunization schedules for persons aged 0 through 18 years. For 2011, most of the changes from 2010 are in the footnotes, with only small changes to the grid itself.

Among the new items:

• Hepatitis B vaccine. Guidance has been added to the hepatitis B vaccine schedule for children who did not receive the recommended birth dose. They should receive three doses on a schedule of 0, 1, and 6 months, with the final dose in the series administered no earlier than age 24 weeks.
• 13-Valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Information on use of the new 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) has been added. Prevnar-13 was licensed in February 2010 and recommended by ACIP to replace the old 7-valent version for routine childhood immunization. Children who began the series with PCV7 should receive the rest of the doses in the series as PCV13.
• Children aged 14–59 months and those aged 60–71 months with underlying medical conditions who received the entire age-appropriate series of PCV7 should receive one supplemental dose of PCV13. That dose should be given at least 8 weeks after the previous PCV7 dose.
• Influenza vaccine. Guidance has been added for administration of one or two doses of seasonal influenza vaccine based upon the child's history of monovalent 2009 H1N1 vaccination. Two doses – separated by at least 4 weeks – should be given to children aged 6 months through 8 years who are receiving seasonal influenza vaccine for the first time or who were vaccinated for the first time during the previous influenza season but received only one dose.
  Children aged 6 months through 8 years who received no doses of monovalent 2009 H1N1 vaccine should receive two doses of 2010–2011 seasonal influenza vaccine, which contains H1N1.
• Tetanus and diphtheria toxoids and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine. Use of Tdap among children aged 7–10 years who are incompletely vaccinated against pertussis – either never vaccinated or with unknown status – is now addressed, with a recommendation that those children receive a single dose of Tdap. Reference to a specified interval between tetanus and between tetanus and diphtheria toxoids (Td) and Tdap vaccination has been removed, so Tdap can be administered without regard for the interval since the last dose of Td (or T).
• Meningococcal conjugate vaccine, quadrivalent (MCV4). For MCV4, recommendations for a routine two-dose schedule have been added for certain individuals at high risk of meningococcal disease, including children aged 2–10 years with persistent complement-component deficiency and anatomic or functional asplenia (who should also receive one dose every 5 years thereafter) and those with HIV infection.

A new recommendation for a booster dose of MCV4 at age 16 years also has been added.

• Human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). Footnote sections on use of the HPV vaccine and use of the Hib vaccine in persons aged 5 years and older in the catch-up schedule have been condensed.
  Detailed recommendations for using vaccines are available from ACIP statements (available at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/acip-list.htm) and the 2009 Red Book. Guidance regarding the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System form is available online (www.vaers.hhs.gov) or by telephone (800-822-7967).
  PII: S0031-398X(11)70025-X

SOURCE: Pediatric News