CDC: Adults Need Immunizations, Too

By Sherri Lonon (Patch Staff)

As a measles outbreak across the country puts the spotlight on the need for childhood immunizations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reminding people that shots aren’t just for kids.

The agency has released its list of immunizations recommended for people ages 19 and up in 2015. That list includes standard recommendations, such as annual flu shots and routine tetanus, but also shingles, pneumonia and HPV. In addition, the agency recommends people born in 1957 or later check to make sure they’ve been immunized against measles, mumps and rubella.

While those are the standard immunizations recommended by the CDC for adults, individuals planning to travel outside of the country may need other shots, the agency notes. Adults, the CDC website says, should talk to their healthcare providers to find out what immunizations may be required for them.

A complete list of recommended immunizations is available on the CDC website.

Meanwhile, a reemergence of the measles virus is raising alarm bells across the country. While all 50 states require children to have measles vaccinations, 48 states, including Massachusetts, do allow for exemptions based on philosophy and religion.

The most recent tally from the CDC’s Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases shows the number of U.S. children who received vaccination exceptions during the 2013-14 school year to be well into the tens of thousands. Most of their parents opted them out for religious or philosophical reasons, as opposed to medical concerns, according to a Wall Street Journal follow-up report.

During the month of January, there were 102 reported cases of measles in 14 states, according to the CDC. Many of those cases have been linked to a multi-state outbreak that originated in California.

Once declared eradicated, measles has been on the rebound in recent years, the CDC states.

“The United States experienced a record number of measles cases during 2014, with 644 cases from 27 states reported to CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases,” the agency’s website states. “This is the greatest number of cases since measles elimination was documented in the U.S. in 2000.”

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