[Preventive immunizations-status in 1980/81].

This ia a brief report on a symposium held during the 16th International Congress of Pediatrics (September 1980) and an account on the consequences to be drawn for the present situation in Switzerland: The vaccination (immunization against small pox) can be suppressed worldwide. Immunizations with attenuated viruses should be encouraged in a greater extent: all children should receive measles vaccine at the age of 18 months; no other than financial reasons can be brought forward against simultaneous application of rubella and mumps vaccine. Pertussis vaccination would be continued, since its suppression in different regions was followed by great epidemic outbreaks of whooping cough. In the new edition of the Swiss "Guidelines on Vaccination" all these considerations are taken into account.