New guidance is published today with the aim of cutting inequalities in vaccine uptake.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is focusing on immunisations for people below the age of 19.
They say some groups of children and young people are at particular risk of not being fully immunised. These include those who have missed previous vaccinations, looked after children, those with physical or learning disabilities, those from non-English speaking families and younger children from large families.
The guidance, published today (September 23), gives recommendations for people who have a direct or indirect responsibility for the immunisation of these groups.
NICE calls for coordinated programmes to increase timely immunisations as part of the local child health strategy, a reliable method for GPs and Primary Care Trusts to record vaccination status, and a record of any factors which may make it less likely that a child or young person will be up-to-date.
Professor Mike Kelly of NICE said: "Childhood immunisation has already had a positive impact on the health of the population in the UK. However, there is still widespread variation in uptake rates in all kinds of vaccines among different social groups, and this guidance seeks to remedy that state of affairs.
"The guidance makes recommendations applying to all vaccinations and recommendations about the vaccination programme for babies born to mothers who are hepatitis B-positive specifically.
"These babies are at risk of infection and serious illness, and implementing a follow-up vaccination programme to help prevent hepatitis B infection will not only have positive health benefits for the child, but save the NHS money in the future."
Leave a Reply