As a clarification to the recent notification of reinstatement of the 4th Hib dose.
While the 4th dose recommendation for Hib vaccine has been reinstated, as delineated in MMWR weekly dated June 26 58(24); 673-674 and by a letter to providers, the Ohio Department of Health has informed us that Ohio VFC providers will need to wait to implement this recommendation, for their VFC eligible patients, until after they have reviewed ODH vaccine policy. ODH informs us a memo should be available in the next few weeks. ODH single-antigen Hib vaccine supplies are not readily available at this time.
For non-VFC eligible children, providers should be directed to their Hib vaccine supplier to review vaccine availability and the feasibility of reinstating the 4th dose.
The recommendation for reinstatement does not alter the maximum age for the booster dose (currently 5 years of age) and as such any child 12 months of age through 5 years is recommended to receive the booster dose.
If you have additional questions regarding ODH vaccine policy regarding Hib vaccine, please contact the ODH Immunization office at (614) 466-4643.