The Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule of the United States

Abstract

The complexity of our current schedule for routine immunization of children is expanding and experienced by both physician and parent. Over nearly two decades in the 1970s and 1980s only one new vaccine was added to the routine immunization for children. However, in the last few years since 1989, the schedule routinely recommended for children has been augmented by eight to ten new doses or vaccines. The confusion has been compounded by differences in the schedules developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases and that of the Centers for Disease Control Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).