Keeping infant vaccination ‘on the agenda’ as we enter a busy winter period

This winter is likely to be a particularly challenging one for the NHS. As the wider healthcare community continues to pull together to fight COVID-19 and minimise the impact of a range of infectious diseases on our elderly and most vulnerable adults, we must also keep childhood vaccinations high on the agenda to ensure we protect the youngest in our society.

While it is good to see that the latest annual NHS Childhood Vaccination Coverage Statistics show an increase in coverage from the previous year for most vaccinations in under 5-year olds,¹ it is important that we all remain vigilant.

Recent analysis published by Public Health England suggests that COVID-19 social distancing measures had an impact on the uptake of childhood immunisation early in the pandemic.² Thankfully uptake has regained to levels in line with last year, but some children may have missed out on important early-years protection, setting them behind on their schedule and putting them at risk of serious infections.