Highlights from the Midi-Pyrénées Regional Health Agency

New 2012 Vaccination Schedule

The new 2012 vaccination schedule has just been published in the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin. It includes few innovations, but a few changes are worth noting. A new influenza vaccine for children aged 2 to 17 has received marketing authorization. It is a live attenuated, trivalent vaccine (containing the same strains as inactivated vaccines) administered intranasally. It acts on mucosal immunity by triggering reactions similar to those caused by the natural disease. (Free) vaccination against seasonal influenza must now be routinely offered to pregnant women, regardless of the trimester of pregnancy, and to obese individuals with a BMI ≥ 40 kg/m². In its introduction to the schedule, the editorial emphasizes the challenge of vaccinating certain hard-to-reach populations, such as immunocompromised or asplenic individuals, pregnant women, and on the major challenge posed by adolescents and young adults, for whom vaccination recommendations against pertussis, varicella, meningococcal C, and human papillomavirus are difficult to implement. The high number of individuals susceptible to measles in this population suggests that new outbreaks are likely to occur if catch-up vaccination is not carried out.