• New Hepatitis A and Varicella Recommendations
  1) AAP Recommends Universal Immunization for Hepatitis A
  The AAP is recommending that all children should receive hepatitis A vaccine at 1 year of age (12 –23 months) as a 2-dose regimen. The 2-dose series should be administered at least 6 months apart.
  View Policy Statement (Member Center Login Required)

  2) Two Doses of Varicella Vaccine Now Recommended
  The AAP now recommends a 2-dose varicella immunization strategy. Children 12 months through 12 years of age should receive two 0.5 ml doses of varicella vaccine, separated by at least 3 months. Children 13 years of age or older without evidence of immunity, should receive two 0.5 ml doses of varicella vaccine separated by at least 28 days.
  View Policy Statement (Member Center Login Required)

• AAP ENDORSES NEW MENINGOCOCCAL VACCINE GUIDELINES

• Meningococcal Conjugate Quadrivalent Vaccine (MCV4) Recommendations: AAP Policy Statement  & MMWR

• Adacel Press Release

• Vaccine Protection.COM

• To find the lastest immunization updates and the AAP Immunization Initiative Newsletter go to:  http://www.cispimmunize.org/resour/rsc_main.html

• www.vaccineprotection.com - Provided as an educational service by Aventis Paseur Inc.

• The CDC's "Keeping the Promise" Campaign developed a six-episode radionovela series entitled "Hablando de Vacunas (Talking about Vaccines)," which promotes the importance of immunizations to parents.
• A new brochure entitled "Recommended vaccines for recent immigrants from Mexico."
  

• www.meningococcaldisease.com

FREE copies of the following resources:

· AAP brochure, "Immunizations: What You Need to Know." Exposed to increasing publicity about the risks of certain vaccines, parents are asking tough questions about immunization. This valuable brochure advocates timely immunization and reassures parents with sound, evidence-based information presented in an easy-to-read Q&A format.

· NEW AAP Immunization Poster. This vintage style poster features a photo of a child in an iron lung (courtesy of the March of Dimes) and focuses on the importance of vaccines and the on-going need to immunization our nation's children.

· NEW AAP Immunization/Breastfeeding Poster. This poster aims to educate pediatricians, parents, and others about the importance of immunization and breastfeeding - breastfeeding is a baby's first immunization!

Resources to help answer questions from parents about the book "Evidence of Harm, Mecury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy"

A new book alleging a link between thimerosal and autism titled "Evidence of Harm, Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy" by David Kirby will be released April 1. More about the author's orientation can be found on his Web site: http://www.evidenceofharm.com/ This book has been receiving a great deal of publicity in the media and is currently #12 on Amazon's best seller list without having been released. While it repeats previous unfounded claims, this book is likely to cause a lot of questions from parents. Pediatricians and other immunization providers should be prepared to respond to vaccine safety concerns. The following resources may be of use:

"What Parents Should Know about Thimerosal" - American Academy of Pediatrics
http://www.aap.org/moc/immunizations/thiparent.htm

Thimerosal Preservative and Routinely Recommended Childhood Vaccines - American Academy of Pediatrics
http://cispimmunize.org/fam/thim.html

Thimerosal Speaking Points - American Academy of Pediatrics (accessible via Member Center)
http://www.aaporg/moc/immunizations/qa.htm

Thimerosal Risk Communication - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/vacsafe/concerns/thimerosal/faqs-thimerosal.htm

The National Network for Immunization Information (NNii) has developed various evidence-based materials on its Website in nontechnical prose that may be of help to confused families:

* Thimerosal/Mercury in Vaccines
http://www.immunizationinfo.org/thimerosal_mercury_issues.cfm

* Vaccine Misinformation
http://www.immunizationinfo.org/immunization_issues_detail.cfv?id=52

* Cause or Coincidence
http://www.immunizationinfo.org/vaccine_safety_detail.cfv?id=67

* IOM Reports
http://www.immunizationinfo.org/iom_reports.cfm

* Immunization Information for Parents
http://www.immunizationinfo.org/parents/index.cfm

* Evaluating Information About Vaccines on the Internet
http://www.immunizationinfo.org/immunization_issues_detail.cfv?id=102