Immunization Counseling and Misinformation: Updates from AAP

The American Academy of Pediatrics has secured the introduction of CPT codes 90482–90484—an explicit, billable pathway for standalone immunization counseling when vaccines are not given.

Pediatric practices routinely spend substantive time counseling families who decline or defer vaccines and previously lacked a clear mechanism to capture that clinical work. The update reframes vaccine-hesitancy encounters as reimbursable care that dovetails with efforts to counter misinformation and strengthen delivery systems.

These codes permit reporting based on total counseling time when no vaccine is administered and recognize counseling as a standalone service.

AAP policy emphasizes ramping up vaccine infrastructure and countering misinformation as complementary strategies to support higher coverage and more resilient delivery. Misinformation has measurable downstream effects—underimmunization, delayed schedules, and higher refusal rates—that complicate routine well-child care and population protection.

Ensuring reimbursement for counseling and reinforcing infrastructure together create the systemic support needed to improve timeliness and reduce underimmunization.