Headlines - The New Vaccination Schedule

The French vaccination schedule is revised every year, but this year the High Council for Public Health undertook a complete overhaul with a twofold objective:

• to ensure optimal protection at every stage of life by administering only the strictly necessary number of vaccine doses;

• to make the new schedule easier to read and remember, and therefore easier to follow.

For infants, the vaccination schedule has been simplified, drawing on the experience of other European countries, with two primary doses (instead of three previously) at 2 and 4 months, followed by a booster at 11 months for diphtheria, tetanus, polio, pertussis, and Haemophilus influenzae. The vaccine against measles, rubella, and mumps is now administered at 12 months and then at 16–18 months, increasing its effectiveness

For children, boosters are scheduled at age 6, then between ages 11 and 14, now including pertussis in addition to diphtheria, tetanus, and polio, plus the human papillomavirus vaccine between ages 11 and 14 for girls.

For adults, booster shots are recommended at specific ages (25, 45, and 65, then every 10 years due to immunosenescence), which makes it easier for patients and doctors to remember.

As part of European Week from April 20 to 27, the Ministry of Health and the National Institute for Prevention and Health Education (INPES) are offering various documents on this new schedule that you can download: http://www.semaine-vaccination.fr/documents_particuliers.html