Immunizations in the News
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• At its February 2010 meeting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to expand the recommendation for annual influenza vaccination to include all people ages 6 months and older. The expanded recommendation is expected to take effect for the 2010–2011 U.S. influenza season.
• The influenza vaccine for the 2010–2011 U.S. influenza season will include an A/California/7/09 (H1N1)-like virus. The decision to include a strain of the dominant 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus was made by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, following a recommendation from the World Health Organization.
• The FDA has approved Prevnar 13, a pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine for infants and young children 6 weeks to 5 years of age. Prevnar 13 is the successor to Prevnar, a pneumococcal 7-valent conjugate vaccine. The CDC ACIP voted at its February 2010 meeting to recommend use of the vaccine.
• A 7-year, population-based, cohort study of more than 9,400 women in Costa Rica found the overall potential benefit of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination at older ages (42 years or older) to be “low.” Rates of newly detected HPV infections among study participants declined sharply with age, from 35.5% in women 18 to 25 years of age to 13.5% in women 42 years of age or older. Moreover, new infections in older women typically did not progress to grade 2 or worse cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. (J Natl Cancer Inst. 2010;102:315-24. [Epub February 15, 2010])