Infectious Diseases - Childhood Immunisation

Immunisation prepares our bodies to fight serious infections which we may come in contact with in the future. Because immunisation is so successful, it is now rare for children to get serious diseases like diphtheria, polio or tetanus. Measles and pertussis (whooping cough) are also becoming less common. However, if children are not immunised against these diseases, they will come back again. Vaccines are offered to all children to protect them against the following diseases:

From the 4th September 2006, the routine childhood immunisation programme changed with the introduction of a pneumococcal (pronounced new-mo-cock-al) vaccine. Pneumococcal infection can cause pneumonia, septicaemia (blood poisoning) and meningitis. There will be a pneumococcal vaccination catch-up programme to ensure that all children under the age of two years will be offered protection against pneumococcal infection. The childhood immunisation schedule now includes a Hib and Meningitis C booster vaccine for babies at 12 months of age.

All parents receive invitations at the appropriate times to have their child immunised. Immunisation for young children usually takes place in the GP surgery or health centre. The immunisations given to 14 to 18 year olds are usually given in school and parents and young people will be notified at the appropriate time by the school doctor/nurse.

Information on the immunisations can be found in the following leaflets:

The Department of Health, Social Services & Public Safety has introduced a Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) vaccination catch up programme which will run until 3 March 2009.  This campaign is following the recommendation from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to offer a Hib booster to young children who have not previously received one, so that these children are protected in line with older and younger children.

It is designed to catch those children who missed out on their Hib booster immunisation because their birth date fell between 13 March 2003 and 3 September 2005. This cohort of children are too young to have had a booster as part of the 2003 Hib catch-up campaign, and too old to have received the new Hib/ Men C booster at 12 months following its introduction in September 2006.

The Department of Health, Social Services & Public Safety, in conjunction with the Health Promotion Agency, have developed an Information Pack containing a public information leaflet and a Q&A factsheet.  The leaflets are also available below translated into Portuguese, Lithuanian and Polish.

The first leaflet is available from health visitors and GPs; the second leaflet is available from GPs; the third and fourth leaflets are available from GPs and Child Health; and the leaflet for teenagers is available from GPs. Copies of these leaflets are available from the Health Promotion Resource Service/ Department in each Health and Social Services Board Area.

Copies of these leaflets have been distributed to health professionals as part of an information pack that also includes the following publications:

More information about childhood immunisation is available at www.immunisation.nhs.uk .