A childhood vaccination calendar is published for Latin America

If a consensus could be established regarding childhood vaccines, children around the world would be more protected. This is complicated even in the same country and let's not talk about developing countries. But health experts are clear and proof of this is this Ibero-American Calendar of Childhood Vaccination Recommendations.

The calendar aims to prevent children from vaccine-preventable diseases, improve their quality of life and health and has been prepared by consensus of different entities: the AEP, the Latin American Society of Pediatrics, the Portuguese Society of Pediatrics and the Society Latin American Pediatric Infectology.

In it, recommendations of a general nature are addressed to the healthy child (the case of traveling children or immunocompromised children would be exceptional) and also meets the needs of each country.

In short, the recommendations include those vaccines that, despite the socio-health differences between countries, are desirable to administer for protect children since they are available and technically justifiable.

This is a publication that adds to the recent AEP vaccine manual online, and as to the justification of the need for this type of international calendar, the AEP expresses it as follows:

Because we are linked by geopolitical, historical, idiomatic, cultural and frequent bidirectional flow of citizens, which must force us to analyze the different problems together and allow us to reach professional technical consensus. We are pediatricians and we are joined by a common goal, to prevent children from vaccine-preventable diseases, improving their quality of life and health.

In the extensive document, which we can consult online (in pdf.), The vaccine recommendations are listed with reference to the recommendation or not of the inclusion in the national immunization program of the Ibero-American countries of vaccination against a specific disease, without specify trademarks of vaccines.

In the case of chickenpox, which is currently in Spain, the document states that in this country and in Portugal, as in Latin America, "universal vaccination against chickenpox is recommended, with a two-dose schedule, in all children: a first dose at 12-15 months and a second dose at 2-3 years. "

Definitely, the childhood vaccination calendar for Latin America It is an interesting document that wants to combine efforts in favor of children's health and the result of an important consensus with the recommendations of the WHO in the background. Now we just need to agree the politicians ...