Vaccine schedule safety: IOM Report to release Jan. 16

Roughly 90 percent of American children receive most childhood vaccines as advised by the federal immunization schedule. However, some parents spread out their children's immunizations over a longer time frame and a small fraction object to having their children immunized at all. Their concerns arise in part from the number and timing of doses that children receive; the schedule entails 24 immunizations by age 2 given in amounts ranging from one to five injections during a pediatric visit.

The Childhood Immunization Schedule and Safety: Stakeholder Concerns, Scientific Evidence, and Future Studies, a new report from the Institute of Medicine, examines evidence about the schedule's safety and recommends the best way to conduct any needed investigations. Members of the committee that wrote the report will discuss their conclusions and recommendations during a one-hour telephone briefing starting at 11 a.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 16.

More information:
More information on the study is available at www.iom.edu/Activities/PublicH … oodImmunization.aspx.

Provided by National Academy of Sciences