Watch: Advisory committee recommends 4 vaccines for adolescents

Parents often look to recommendations from their physicians when making vaccination decisions for their children. A new free webcast series from the AOA can help DOs stay abreast of the latest recommendations for adolescent immunizations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

For routine administration in adolescents, the advisory committee recommends four vaccines:

• One dose of tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap).
• Two doses of meningococcal conjugate vaccine.
• Three doses of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
• One annual influenza vaccine.

New vaccines, such as the meningococcal serogroup B and the 9-valent HPV vaccine, offer even more opportunities for cancer and infection prevention, according to the webcast presenters.

The first webcast provides updates on the HPV and meningococcal conjugate vaccines while the second webcast covers the measles, mumps and rubella; varicella; flu; and Tdap vaccines. Each webcast has been approved for 0.5 AOA Category 1-B CME credit.

Upon completion, webcast participants should have a better understanding of the burden of disease associated with vaccine-preventable diseases in adolescents. They should also know how to better employ strategies to reduce the prevalence of these diseases.