Vaccination Guidelines For Immunocompromised Children

Some infectious risks could be controlled by vaccination, carried out according to normal schedules, in the absence of effective curative treatment. According to the type of immunodeficiency and its severity, certain vaccines may be recommended, others should be avoided and still others may be used with no particular risk. Thus, in immuno-compromised subjects, vaccines consisting of inactivated, inert or dead microorganisms are indicated.In immune deficiency of any cause, immunization is of great interest to avoid preventable infectious diseases but the risk of adverse events and suboptimal immunologic responses has to be considered. For live, attenuated vaccines, the main risks are post-immunization complications, especially in severely immuno-compromised people. For killed or inactivated vaccines, there are no contra-indications, but the immune response is reduced, leading to consider higher vaccine doses or more frequent boosters.