Abstract
It has been suggested that one of the major advances in medicine, and for society at large, has been the development of vaccines and the adoption of routine immunization by the vast majority of responsible health care practitioners in the developed nations. Thankfully, there continue to be rapid advances in our ability to diagnose and treat infectious diseases. However, with these rapid advances come necessary changes in the dogma of medical practice, including changes in the routine immunization procedures recommended by various authoritative bodies in the United States. New immunizing agents will be developed and will achieve routine use. Unexpected adverse reactions and complications of our immunization reagents must constantly be sought and described. Previously unrecognized subgroups of hosts at special susceptibility to adverse and untoward vaccine effects will be recognized; the pathogenesis of their special susceptibility needs to be understood and then will have to be appropriately addressed. Individual health care practitioners will need to keep abreast of routine immunization recommendations and the application of these recommendations in an organized and thorough fashion to infants, children, adolescents, and adults. A crucial link in the chain of optimal preventive health care will continue to involve those who prescribe, order, and administer vaccines.
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