On Nov. 15, 2013, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to extend existing recommendations for use of inactivated Vero cell culture-derived Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine (JE-VC) (Ixiaro, Intercell Biomedical) to include children aged 2 months through 16 years.

JE virus, a mosquito-borne flavivirus, is an important cause of encephalitis in Asia. JE is a severe disease with a case fatality rate of 20%–30% and neurologic or psychiatric sequelae in 30%–50% of survivors (4). Although no specific treatment is available, the disease is vaccine-preventable.