The Red Book, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases, has been relied on for more than 85 years for guidance on infectious disease prevention, management and control. The book, once just an eight-page booklet, is now over 1,000 pages with five separate sections. The first section covers active and passive immunization. Vaccine-preventable diseases are covered in sections two and three. Section four covers antimicrobial treatments, while section five focuses on using antimicrobials for prophylaxis.
While the Red Book is often considered to be a pediatric text, its content is useful for many other providers, including those in family medicine, emergency medicine, public health and school health, among others.
The book is updated every three years, and the 2024-2027 edition includes a vast array of updates, including:
- Significant revisions to the chapter related to talking about vaccines with patients and families
- New chapters on COVID-19 and mpox
- Cross-chapter standardization of style to make disease prevention and immunization information more uniform for readers
- Improved consistency between AAP and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine recommendations, including for healthcare workers
The book is a valuable resource to have on hand to answer questions ranging from how to manage injection site pain, how to evaluate hypersensitivity reactions to vaccination, which vaccines can be administered during pregnancy, what considerations to take for vaccinating international travelers, and more.
Purchase a copy or review the content online with a subscription, institutional login, or AAP membership.
Contributed by: Lori Handy, MD, MSCE
The Red Book, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases, has been relied on for more than 85 years for guidance on infectious disease prevention, management and control. The book, once just an eight-page booklet, is now over 1,000 pages with five separate sections. The first section covers active and passive immunization. Vaccine-preventable diseases are covered in sections two and three. Section four covers antimicrobial treatments, while section five focuses on using antimicrobials for prophylaxis.
While the Red Book is often considered to be a pediatric text, its content is useful for many other providers, including those in family medicine, emergency medicine, public health and school health, among others.
The book is updated every three years, and the 2024-2027 edition includes a vast array of updates, including:
- Significant revisions to the chapter related to talking about vaccines with patients and families
- New chapters on COVID-19 and mpox
- Cross-chapter standardization of style to make disease prevention and immunization information more uniform for readers
- Improved consistency between AAP and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine recommendations, including for healthcare workers
The book is a valuable resource to have on hand to answer questions ranging from how to manage injection site pain, how to evaluate hypersensitivity reactions to vaccination, which vaccines can be administered during pregnancy, what considerations to take for vaccinating international travelers, and more.
Purchase a copy or review the content online with a subscription, institutional login, or AAP membership.
Contributed by: Lori Handy, MD, MSCE