Vaccination schedule for childhood and adolescence: comparing recommendations.

OBJECTIVES

To present the criteria used to define a vaccination schedule for childhood and adolescence, comparing the recommendations of national and international excellence institutions.

SOURCES OF DATA: Review of publications by the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics, the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) covering the period from 2000 to 2005.

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS: Local epidemiological and socioeconomic factors and the available infrastructure often define the priorities of immunobiological recommendations. The publications reviewed, both national and international, differ in terms of the vaccination schedule for tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, rotavirus, pertussis, pneumococcus, meningococcus, varicella and hepatitis A. In Brazil, there are Special Immunobiology Referral Centers (CRIE--Centros de Referência de Imunobiológicos Especiais), which, according to specific criteria, offer the population immunobiologicals that are unavailable on the public health network.

CONCLUSIONS

While the use of a universal schedule is impossible due to epidemiological and operational differences, there are similarities that can be incorporated with different populations, as long as technical and scientific criteria are respected.