General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization: Introduction

Suggested citation: Kroger A, Bahta L, Long S, Sanchez P. General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization. 

[www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/general- recs/downloads/general-recs.pdf]. Accessed on [DATE].

2

General Best Practice Guidelines for 

Immunization

Kroger A, Bahta L, Long S, Sanchez P

1. Introduction

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends routine vaccination 

to prevent 17 vaccine-preventable diseases that occur in infants, children, adolescents, or 

adults. This report provides information for clinicians and other health care providers 

about concerns that commonly arise when vaccinating persons of various ages. Providers 

and patients must navigate numerous issues, such as the timing of each dose, screening 

for contraindications and precautions, the number of vaccines to be administered, the 

educational needs of patients and parents, and interpreting and responding to adverse 

events. Vaccination providers help patients understand the substantial body of 

(occasionally conflicting) information about vaccination. 

This vaccination best practice guidance is intended for clinicians and other health care 

providers who vaccinate patients in varied settings, including hospitals, provider offices, 

pharmacies, schools, community health centers, and public health clinics. The updated 

guidelines include 1) new information on simultaneous vaccination and febrile seizures; 

2) enhancement of the definition of a “precaution” to include any condition that might 

confuse diagnostic accuracy; 3) confirmation that if a patient is not acutely moderately or 

severely ill, vaccination during hospitalization is a best practice; 4) more descriptive 

characterization of anaphylactic allergy; 5) incorporation of protocols for management of 

anaphylactic allergy; 6) allowances for alternate route (subcutaneous instead of 

intramuscular) for hepatitis A vaccination; 7) an age cutoff of 12 years through 17 years of 

age for validating a dose of intradermal influenza vaccine; 8) deletion of much of the 
General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization: Introduction

Suggested citation: Kroger A, Bahta L, Long S, Sanchez P. General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization. 

[www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/general- recs/downloads/general-recs.pdf]. Accessed on [DATE].

3

content from storage and handling, including storage units, temperature monitoring, and 

expiration dates (because this content is now codified and continually updated in the 

CDC’s Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit, available at 

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/admin/storage/toolkit/index.html.); 9) incorporation 

of Infectious Diseases Society of America guidance on vaccination of persons with altered 

immunocompetence; 10) timing of intramuscular administration in patients with 

bleeding disorders; 11) updated data on vaccination record policy; 12) additional impacts 

of the Affordable Care Act (1,2) on adult vaccination; and 13) updated programmatic 

contact information on source material for vaccine information. 

The guidance is organized in the following 10 documents: 1) Timing and Spacing of 

Immunobiologics; 2) Contraindications and Precautions; 3) Preventing and Managing 

Adverse Reactions; 4) Vaccine Administration; 5) Storage and Handling of 

Immunobiologics; 6) Altered Immunocompetence; 7) Special Situations; 8) Vaccination 

Records; 9) Vaccination Programs; and 10) Vaccine Information Sources. A glossary 

follows (see Appendix 1: Glossary). 

This report will help vaccination providers to assess vaccine benefits and risks, use 

recommended administration practices, understand the most effective strategies for 

ensuring that vaccination coverage in the population remains high, and communicate the 

importance of vaccination to reduce the effects of vaccine-preventable disease. These best

practice guidelines are intended for use in the United States; vaccine availability, use, and 

epidemiologic circumstances might differ in other countries and might warrant different 

guidance.
General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization: Introduction

Suggested citation: Kroger A, Bahta L, Long S, Sanchez P. General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization. 

[www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/general- recs/downloads/general-recs.pdf]. Accessed on [DATE].

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REFERENCES

1. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pub. L. No. 111-148 (2010).

2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Read the law: the Affordable 

Care Act, section by section. 2015; https://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about- thelaw/read-the-law/index.html. Accessed 9 March, 2017.