SATURDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- A new online tool that
helps parents and pediatricians adjust childhood immunization
schedules when one or more vaccinations are missed has been
developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of
Technology.
It's common for children to miss getting vaccines at the
recommended time. About 28 percent of toddlers haven't been
vaccinated according to U.S. guidelines, said a report issued
recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Only 9 percent of children received all their vaccinations at the
recommended times, and only half received all the recommended doses
by their second birthday, according to another recent survey.
When a child falls behind in the vaccination schedule, doctors
must determine when it's appropriate to give any missed vaccines or
future vaccines. This typically requires the creation of a
personalized catch-up schedule for each child, something that's
often done while the child sits in the treatment room.
The new online tool is designed to ensure that missed and future
vaccines are given without violating guidelines regarding vaccines
and doses.
"Physicians have been telling us for years that they needed a
computerized program to tell them when to give vaccines after a
child misses scheduled immunizations. Now this tool is available
for health care professionals and parents to use, and they are
excited to use it," Larry Pickering, executive director of the
CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and a
collaborator on the project, said in a prepared statement.
When using the tool, a doctor or parent inputs a child's date of
birth and previous immunization dates. The program then creates a
personalized schedule of the recommended dates to administer all
future vaccines. It offers two options -- administer the vaccines
as soon as possible or administer the vaccines when
recommended.
"Sometimes a physician sees a child that he or she knows will
not return for all follow-up visits. In this case, the tool
provides the physician flexibility in administering as many
vaccines as possible when the child is in the office rather than
waiting," Pickering said.
The tool is available for download from the CDC Web site at
www.cdc.gov/vaccines/scheduler/catchup.htm.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about
childhood vaccines.
