Vaccination Schedule Updated for 2020

The expanded vaccination recommendations for adults in the USA have been announced for 2020.

On February 3, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) published the revised Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule for 2020, in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

These ACIP recommendations are made each year and include changes to several adult vaccines, such as the human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, meningococcal serogroup B, and pneumococcal disease.

We have listed below a few highlights from these ACIP recommendations:

• Flu Vaccines - Influenza vaccination recommendations for the 2019-2020 Northern Hemisphere flu season include everyone 6 months of age and older who do not have contraindications. A live attenuated vaccine is an option for adults through 49 years of age who do not have immunocompromising conditions.
• HPV - The ACIP has now updated recommendations to suggest some adults above the recommended catch-up age receive catch-up vaccination, based on shared-clinical decision making. This pertains primarily to adults between the ages of 27 through 45.
• Clinicians should engage in shared decision making about the meningococcal serogroup B (menB) vaccine with adolescent and adult patients who are not at increased risk. During a MenB outbreak, people determined to be at increased risk should be administered a 1-time booster vaccination if it has been 1 year or more since the completion of the meningococcal B primary series.
• And, clinicians discuss the pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine with all adults 65 years or older who do not have an immunocompromising condition, cochlear implants, or cerebrospinal fluid leak and have not received the vaccine before. Furthermore, seniors who are 65 years and older should receive 1 vaccine dose of pneumococcal 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine.

These ACIP vaccination recommendations were discussed in October 2019. The full 2020 adult immunization schedule is available summarizing ACIP recommendations in 2 tables and accompanying notes. 

And, the full ACIP recommendations for each vaccine are available. 

The 2020 vaccination schedule has also been approved by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by the American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Adult vaccination news is published by Precision Vaccinations.