Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine For U.S. Children

Inactivated Vero cell culture–derived JE vaccine (manufactured as IXIARO) is the only JE vaccine that is licensed and available in the United States. In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed IXIARO for use in adults ≥17 years of age. In May 2013, FDA licensed IXIARO for use in children 2 months through 16 years of age. On June 19, 2013, CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to extend existing recommendations for use of JE vaccine to include use of IXIARO in children aged 2 months through 16 years. ACIP recommendations for prevention of JE and the use of JE vaccine are available on the CDC ACIP webpage.

Vaccine Administration

The primary series for IXIARO is 2 doses administered 28 days apart:

• For adults and children aged ≥3 years, each dose is 0.5 mL.
• For children aged 2 months through 2 years, each dose is 0.25 mL. To administer a 0.25-mL dose, health care providers must expel and discard half of the volume from the 0.5-mL prefilled syringe before injection. To enable this, the manufacturer has developed a prefilled syringe with a red line on the barrel to indicate the 0.25-mL point.

Studies are being conducted on the need for a booster dose for children following a primary series of IXIARO, but data are not yet available.

IXIARO product information is available at the FDA IXIARO webpage.

For More Information

• Use of JE Vaccine in Children: Recommendations of the ACIP, 2013
• CDC’s Health Information for International Travel (Yellow Book)
  Information about JE risk by country and recommendations for prevention of JE among travelers