
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 6, 1995                   TAG: 9501060101
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                LENGTH: Medium

VACCINES SCHEDULE SET

After years of bickering between federal health officials and pediatricians, the government announced agreement Thursday on a set of guidelines that call for vaccinating children as early as possible.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a schedule of recommended vaccinations for parents and doctors, raising hopes that the percentage of children immunized will increase.

About 2 million children ages 19 to 35 months - or about one-third of the youngsters in that age group - are without one or more recommended doses of vaccine, the CDC said.

The large number of unvaccinated children has been blamed on cost, lack of access to medical care, uneducated parents and confusion about when to vaccinate youngsters.

The schedule was worked out with the 49,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics, whose doctors had balked at administering the vaccines as early as the CDC initially proposed.

``The new schedule will allow physicians to do them correctly and not hesitate in giving them. It should increase immunizations,'' said Dr. Caroline Hall, who led the committee of physicians that worked with the CDC.

The government had been urging doctors to administer vaccinations as early as possible, while doctors had sought more flexibility in deciding when to give the shots.

The guidelines cover immunizations against such diseases as polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella and infant hepatitis B.The compromise schedule, worked out over the past year, pushes up the recommended times for vaccinations while giving parents and doctors some scheduling flexibility.

by CNB