Key statements of IAPCOI and IAP Immunization Timetable for year 2012

Abstract

Abstract Vaccinology today is a rapidly changing specialty of medical science where new developments are regularly taking place at short intervals. There is a need to review/revise recommendations about existing vaccines in light of recent information. Following an IAPCOI meeting in December 2011, a draft statement was prepared and circulated among the meeting participants to arrive at a consensus. Objectives To review and issue recommendations on the recent contentious issues pertaining to rotavirus, Hib, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and to revise recommendations for 2012 Immunization timetable for pediatricians in office practice. Recommendations IAPCOI abolished the earlier categorization of vaccines in four categories. On rotavirus, the committee stresses the need of having more data on disease burden in India. Further, there is a need to optimize use of rotavirus vaccines in India to achieve higher yields in term of protective efficacy. In the want of adequate data, the committee is not able to issue any specific recommendation on the suitability of a particular rotavirus vaccine (monovalent Vs multivalent) for the country. The committee also acknowledges a small risk of acute intussusceptions following use of current generation of rotavirus vaccines and recommends inclusion of the history of intussusception in the past as an absolute contraindication. The committee concludes there is no safety concerns of Hib vaccines as reported frequently in lay media. On the disease burden of pneumococcal diseases (PD), the committee concludes that there is need of conducting more community based studies to gather more evidence. Similarly, the data on prevalence of different pneumococcal serotypes in the country is sparse and limited to few hospital based studies. There is need of establishing real-time multi-site pneumococcal disease surveillance in the country. Due to scarcity of data on the prevalence of pneumococcal serotypes and non-typeable hemophilus influenzae (NTHi) in India, it is difficult to comment on the superiority of one pneumococcal conjugate vaccine over other. The committee also revised the recommendations for the year 2012.