(CNN/WSYR-TV) – The American Academy of Pediatrics, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Family Physicians, has published a new, simpler childhood vaccine schedule.
It tells parents and doctors when is the correct time to vaccinate children against the 16 infectious diseases for which vaccines are available.
One of the big changes makes the schedule easier to read.
Another big change applies to pregnant women. It is now recommended that pregnant women receive a whooping cough (T-dap) shot in the second half of their pregnancy.
The rationale behind is to vaccinate women near their time of delivery to boost immunity, which then passes through the placenta and get into the baby - so the baby will have its mother's immunity until it can develop its own.
Whooping cough cases have risen to a 50-year high, the CDC said last year.
Click here to see the new scheduled on the CDC website.
