Vaccination and Immunisation
For information and advice on getting your children or yourself immunised, speak to your GP, Health Visitor, or Practice Nurse.
The two public health interventions that have had the greatest impact on the world's health are clean water and vaccines.
For people in developing countries, successful immunisation programmes save thousands of lives. Organisations including UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO) are committed to making vaccines against measles, polio and other serious diseases available to as many children as possible. For more see:
Many childhood diseases are largely a thing of the past in the UK and most developed countries. Immunisation has been a key factor in achieving this.
Immunisation is a way of protecting your child against serious disease. Once children have been immunised, their bodies can fight those diseases if they come into contact with them. If a child is not immunised they will be at risk from catching the disease and will rely on other people immunising their children to avoid becoming infected.
For more information about vaccination and immunisation, please see NHS Choices vaccinations guide.
Secondary school vaccinations
Vaccinations which may be offered to your child at school include:
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HPV vaccine (given to girls aged 12 and 13 years old) which aims to protect against cervical cancer.
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td/IPV booster (girls and boys aged between 13 - 18 years old) which boosts protection against tetanus, diptheria and POlio following childhood immunisation against these diseases.
Department of Health leaflet explaining secondary school vaccination (pdf)
HPV vaccine information