Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule—United States, 2009 FREE

MMWR. 2009;57:Q1-Q4

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) annually reviews the recommended Adult Immunization Schedule to ensure that the schedule reflects current recommendations for the licensed vaccines. In October 2008, ACIP approved the Adult Immunization Schedule for 2009. No new vaccines were added to the schedule; however, several indications were added to the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine footnote, clarifications were made to the footnotes for human papillomavirus, varicella, and meningococcal vaccines, and schedule information was added to the hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccine footnotes.

Additional information is available as follows: schedule (in English and Spanish) at http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/adult-schedule.htm; adult vaccination at http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/default.htm; ACIP statements for specific vaccines at http://www.cdc.gov/vaccine/pubs/acip-list.htm; and reporting adverse events at http://www.vaers.hhs.gov or by telephone, 800-822-7967.

Format Changes (Figures 1 and 2)

To make the figures easier to understand, several formatting changes were implemented to both the age group–based schedule and the medical and other indications schedule. The changes include (1) increasing the number of age groups; (2) deleting the hatched yellow bar for tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Td/Tdap) vaccine while adding explanatory text to the Td/Tdap bar; (3) simplifying the figures by removing schedule text from the vaccine bars; (4) revising the order of the vaccines to more appropriately group the vaccines, and (5) adding a legend box to clarify the meaning of blank spaces in the table.

Footnote (Figures 1 and 2)

The human papillomavirus (HPV) footnote (#2) has language added to indicate that health-care personnel are not at increased risk because of occupational exposure, but they should be vaccinated consistent with age-based recommendations. Also, text has been added to indicate that vaccination with HPV may begin at age 9 years.

The varicella footnote (#3) has language added to clarify that adults who previously received only 1 dose of vaccine should receive a second dose.

Asthma and cigarette smoking have been added as indications for pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination (#7). Also, text has been added to clarify vaccine use in Alaska Natives and American Indians.

The Hepatitis A footnote (#9) has additional schedule information for the 4-dose combined hepatitis A/hepatitis B vaccine.

The Hepatitis B footnote (#10) has additional schedule information for the 4-dose combined hepatitis A/hepatitis B vaccine, and a clarification of schedule information for special formulation indications has been added.

The meningococcal vaccine footnote (#11) clarifies that the revaccination interval is 5 years.

The Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule has been approved by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American College of Physicians.

Suggested citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recommended adult immunization schedule—United States, 2009. MMWR 2008;57(53).