Canadian Immunization Guide
Seventh Edition - 2006

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Preface

The seventh edition of the Canadian Immunization Guide contains numerous changes from the 2002 version. Every chapter has been thoroughly reviewed and updated as required, taking into consideration the input received from the user survey conducted in 2004.

Three new chapters have been added: Principles of Combination Vaccines, Principles of Vaccine Interchangeability, and Immunization of Persons New to Canada.

Some key changes from the 2002 Canadian Immunization Guide are:

• Each disease-specific vaccine chapter is prefaced with a notation about major changes.
• The Vaccine Safety chapter replaces the Adverse Events chapter and includes more information.
• The Vaccine Administration Practices chapter replaces the Immunization Techniques chapter and incorporates more detail.
• The Communicating Effectively About Immunization chapter replaces Talking with Patients About Immunization, focusing on the principles of risk communication.
• The Benefits of Vaccines chapter replaces the Cost Benefit chapter and covers the benefits of vaccines to health.
• The General Considerations chapter includes a table listing all vaccines approved for use in Canada, based on product availability as of May 2006.
• The Immunization of Patients in Health Care Institutions chapter incorporates the recommendations for acute-care and long-term care institutions.
• The Immunization for Adults chapter has been expanded to include recommendations for health care workers and specific risk situations.
• The chapter on Immunization of Persons with Neurologic Disorders has been expanded with recommendations related to adults.
• The recommendations for travellers are integrated into one chapter.
• The Lyme Disease Vaccine chapter was discarded, since there is currently no vaccine available against this disease in Canada.

In an effort to keep the Guide user friendly, we developed a standard template to present the information in the Active Immunizing Agents sections with a summary of key changes since the publication of the previous edition. We also used different colors for each part of the Guide and included a condensed version of the Table of Contents on the back cover for easier reference. Look for a new and improved on-line version available in HTML format with direct links to updates in each section of the Guide.

As we publish this seventh edition of the Guide some information is already out-dated, which reflects the rapidly expanding environment in the immunization field. This continues to be a challenge for the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) as more new vaccines are approved for use, new vaccine combinations are developed, the data to be analyzed become more complex, and additional data are available on the immunogenicity and efficacy of vaccines. Updates and new recommendations are published in the Canada Communicable Disease Report and are available at the NACI Web site at www.naci.gc.ca.

As the Chair of the Committee, I would like to gratefully acknowledge the expert contributions of my member, liaison, and ex-officio representative colleagues on the Committee and the support from the Immunization and Respiratory Infections Division, Public Health Agency of Canada. It has been an honor and privilege to work with such a committed group of professionals on an activity that results in guidelines that are so widely incorporated into practice in Canada.

On behalf of the Committee, I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Monique Landry and the Groupe sur l'acte vaccinal du Québec for the final editing of the Guide's French version.

Dr. Monika Naus
Chair
National Advisory Committee on Immunization

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