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Vaccination coverage statistics for children in the UK have been published by the UKHSA.
Prof Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology, University of Nottingham, said:
“It’s really important to understand what factors are leading to this overall decline in childhood vaccine uptake, so that effective measures to increase immunisation rates can be put in place. Immunisation is the best weapon we have against so many childhood diseases, and for some infections – like measles, which is so easily transmitted – uptake needs to be as high as possible to stop dangerous outbreaks. Because vaccines have been so effective in our battle against so many infectious diseases we forget that these infections can result in serious illness and even death.
“It’s also important to remember that these are average figures and all too often there are groups of people where vaccine uptake is even less, and these groups are especially vulnerable to disease outbreaks. That’s another reason why it is so important not just to look at headline figures, but get a thorough understanding of what’s going on.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake
Declared interests
Prof Jonathan Ball: “No CoIs.”