On November 17, 2015, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced that the routine childhood immunization schedule was revised to designate Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which was previously recommended for infants 24 hours after birth, for infants reaching 5 months of age and recommend BCG vaccine for infants aged 5 through 8 months beginning January 1, 2016. Parents are reminded to bring infants at least five months after birth to their local health bureau or contracted hospital for routine immunization for children along with the children’s health handbook and the National Health Insurance IC card for infants to receive the vaccine beginning next year.

Taiwan CDC stated that the routine childhood immunization schedule was revised based on the data collected from the active surveillance of adverse events following BCG immunization. According to the data, most cases that experienced adverse events, including bone infection and bone marrow infection, following BCG immunization are comparatively younger. Therefore, BCG vaccine is revised to designate for infants aged older in order to lower the number of adverse events following BCG immunization and optimize the efficacy of the vaccine. Under the continuous efforts of public health and health care workers, the overall tuberculosis (TB) incidence rate is lowered by 40% as compared to a decade ago. Although the TB incidence rate in some villages is comparatively higher, the TB incidence rate in most regions in Taiwan has gradually lowered. In 2014, the national TB incidence rate is 48 cases per 100,000 population. As Taiwan has not met the international criteria for stopping routine BCG immunization, the government has continued to offer BCG immunization to infants to prevent the occurrence of severe diseases such as tuberculous meningitis.

Taiwan CDC reminds BCG immunization is recommended to prevent children from developing tuberculous meningitis, which could lead to death or permanent disability. Studies have shown that unvaccinated children are 16 times more likely to develop tuberculous meningitis than vaccinated children, indicating that BCG immunization is effective at preventing tuberculous meningitis among children, which indirectly reduces child mortality. Currently, neighboring countries that also implement routine BCG immunization include Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. For more information, please visit the Taiwan CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline, 1922 (or 0800-001922).