Parents and carers in South Yorkshire are being urged to ensure their children are up to date with all their childhood immunisations including polio and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccinations.
Across South Yorkshire the flu vaccination programme is well underway. The children's nasal spray flu vaccine is safe and effective and offers the best protection against flu. It’s offered free every year to children aged 2 to 17 years.
In addition to the flu vaccine, children are offered the first dose of the MMR vaccine when aged one year and the second dose aged 3 years 4 months. Parents are being asked to check children are fully up to date with their measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccinations by checking their vaccine record in their red book.
Dr David Crichton, Chief Medical Officer at NHS South Yorkshire said “Vaccination is the most important thing we can do to protect our children against ill health. They prevent millions of deaths worldwide every year.
“Measles is highly contagious so even a small decline in MMR uptake can lead to a rise in cases which can lead to complications that require a stay in hospital and on rare occasions can cause lifelong disability or death.
Immunisation prepares the body to fight serious infections that might happen in the future. Young babies are very vulnerable to infections, so they need to be protected as early as possible. Children need several different vaccines to be fully protected, so it’s important to complete their childhood immunisation programme”.
Childhood immunisations are mainly given during their first five years and its important children have vaccinations at the right age to keep the risk of disease as low as possible.
Vaccines work by prompting our immune system to create antibodies which then protect us from the actual disease. This is a good way for our immune system to develop this through vaccination rather than by catching diseases and relying on treating them alone. Once the immune system knows how to fight a disease, it can often protect you for many years.
The NHS immunisation programme gives vaccines to babies and children at different ages. The NHS.UK website provides a vaccination schedule about what vaccinations are needed and when to have them.
Parents and carers should speak to their health visitor or GP for advice if they think their child may have missed an immunisation. Childhood immunisations are free, and most are given at your GP’s surgery.
