LEBANON — Twin State health care providers are speaking out against recently announced changes to the federal childhood vaccination schedule during a season in which state and federal changes have already impacted local vaccination options.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new childhood immunization recommendations Tuesday.
Among other changes, the new guidelines reclassified the influenza vaccine from “recommended” for all children to “immunizations based on shared clinical decision making.”
Also now in this category are vaccinations for rotavirus, which causes diarrhea and vomiting in infants and young children, COVID-19, meningococcal disease that causes meningitis and bloodstream infections and hepatitis A and B.
In Vermont, and at Dartmouth Health, which has locations in both Vermont and New Hampshire, providers will continue to follow existing recommendations based on guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to separate statements from Vermont Health Commissioner Rick Hildebrandt and DH Children’s Physician-in-Chief Keith Loud.
The New Hampshire Division of Public Health also continues to recommend that physicians follow immunization schedules from the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Family Physicians, according to a Tuesday alert sent from the state epidemiologist to New Hampshire health care providers.
The federal change, which only recommends 11 of the 17 previously recommended vaccines, is an “unprecedented move” that left DH Children’s “disappointed,” according to Loud’s statement.
There is “no evidence suggesting harms” from the previously recommended vaccination schedule, Loud said, and it is “grounded in rigorous science and the expertise of immunologists, infectious disease specialists, and public health professionals.”
Vermont clinicians also spoke out in support of a robust childhood vaccine schedule and the value of the vaccines removed from the recommended category in a joint statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics Vermont Chapter, Vermont Academy of Family Physicians, and Vermont Medical Society Tuesday. The statement stopped short of explicitly condemning the changes.
“In Vermont, where rural geography, limited pediatric inpatient capacity, and seasonal respiratory surges strain the health care system, preventing vaccine-preventable disease has an outsized impact on families, clinicians, and communities,” the release argued. “Moving away from clear, routine immunization guidance risks increasing preventable illness, avoidable hospitalizations, and health inequities.”
Even before these changes, other funding shifts compromised vaccine access in the Upper Valley this year.
The Upper Valley Regional Public Health Council which typically coordinates school-based vaccine clinics reported during a Public Health Council of the Upper Valley partner meeting in May that there would be no such clinics across the Upper Valley this year because of funding and staffing shortages.
The Lebanon School District typically participates in the program that is run by the state Department of Health and Human Services and administered by the regional council and was not able to this year, Jack Rooney, the district’s spokesperson, said.
“Although the recommended time frame for getting a flu shot has passed, our nurses note that it’s still not too late to get a vaccine,” Rooney said.
Though public vaccine clinics have largely ended for the season, flu vaccines are still available by scheduling an appointment with a primary care provider or contacting a local pharmacy, Dartmouth Health advises.