Harmonized Adult Immunization Schedule in the Works.

ATLANTA -- For years, the routine childhood immunization schedule has decorated the walls of pediatricians' and family physicians' offices. Now, it's the grown-ups' turn.

Work has begun on the development of a harmonized immunization schedule for adults, which would consist of a unified set of recommendations from the relevant specialty groups: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine.

"As with childhood immunization schedules, harmonizing the recommendations for adult immunization by provider organizations and. presenting the information in a single and simple format could increase adult immunization services by private providers," Vishnu-Priya Sneller, PhD., of the CDC's National Immunization Program, said at a meeting of ACIP.

The adult schedule would be updated on a yearly basis, just as the childhood one is now, she said.

According to Dr. Stanley Gall, ACOG's liaison to the ACIP, the schedule should serve as a reminder to vaccinate women. "1 would look at this as an assist to help ob.gyns. to remember which vaccines to give women at which time."

Currently, each of the specialty groups has its own set of guidelines. ACOG is in the process of updating its 1991 technical bulletin on vaccination during pregnancy, and is also planning to issue a new bulletin on adult immunization. Both should be available within the next 6 months, said Dr. Gall, professor of ob.gyn. at the University of Louisville (Ky).

As for the other specialty groups, ACIP issued a comprehensive adult immunization update in 1991, and has published several new individual recommendations in the years since. The ACP-ASIM anc the Infectious Diseases Society o America published the Guide for Adult Immunization, also known at the "Greer Book," in 1994.