Health Highlights: Jan. 1, 2009

Jan. 2 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

New Immunization Recommendations for Children Unveiled

Updated immunization recommendations for flu shots for children have been unveiled by three leading U.S. health groups.

The revised 2009 schedule calls for routine annual flu shots forchildren aged 6 months through 18 years. The previous recommendation applied to children from 6 months to 59 months of age. The new recommendation increases the number of eligible children by approximately 30 million.

"Vaccination is the best protection against influenza," Dr. AnneSchuchat, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, said in a news release issued Wednesday. "This important update to the childhood immunization schedule helps us extend protection from influenza and its complications to all children between the ages of 6 months and 18 years, not just those at highest risk of complications from influenza."

The other health groups announcing the new vaccination schedule were the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Recommendations for inoculation against rotavirus -- a disease that causes diarrhea in young children -- include changes for the maximum ages for vaccination. The first dose should be given by 15 weeks of age. The latest age any dose may be given is 15 months. If the vaccine Rotarixis administered at ages 2 and 4 months, a dose at 6 months is notneeded, the news release said.

The revised schedule also clarifies vaccination against human papillomavirus, the leading cause of cervical cancer in women. Routinedosing intervals should be used for series catch-up -- i.e., the secondand third doses should be administered two and six months after the firstdose. The third dose should be given at least 24 weeks after the firstdose, the release said.

You can read the full immunization schedule at www.cdc.gov/vaccines.

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