NEW YORK — The Department of Health and Human Services has changed its vaccine schedules for pregnant women, newborn babies and young children in an effort to reduce outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
The National Vaccine Program, which provides vaccines to public and private schools, such as the Bronx Academy of Arts and Sciences, has been told that schoolchildren will no longer be expected to have a booster dose of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, when they are 4 to 6 years old. The old schedule called for only one shot at that age.
Instead, the CDC has recommended that all children get the vaccine before entering school, even if they were fully vaccinated at 12 months. On Monday, the department confirmed the changes, which were expected.
The department also said that by the fall of 2020, children up to age 9 will not be expected to get one booster dose of the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which is still an infection, but not a disease.
It is unclear whether the departments will require another dose of the pneumonia vaccine for that age group, but it has been approved for use for that age group and probably should be required.