St James' Hospital, Locksway Road, Milton, Portsmouth PO4 8LD
Contact
information
telephone: 023 9282 2444
fax: 023 9268 4801
Protect your child with vaccinations
Be a hero and get your child vaccinated! That's the message from the Southampton, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth PCT Cluster in the 'Be a hero' campaign.
Childhood vaccinations are an extremely important, safe and effective way of preventing illness and death due to infectious disease in children.
Over the years they have saved thousands of children’s lives and are widely seen as the second most effective public health intervention behind the provision of clean water.
Vaccines are offered to all children in the UK and they provide protection against diseases such as:
- Diphtheria
- Tetanus
- Pertussis
- Polio
- Pneumococcal infections
- Meningitis C
- Haemophilus influenza type B (HiB) infections
- Measles
- Mumps
- Rubella
- Human papillomavirus infection (HPV).
These are given at certain ages to maximise their ability to protect against disease. The timings and the vaccinations given are outlined below:
|
Age |
Diseases Protected Against |
|
2 months |
Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, HiB, polio (DTaP/IPV/HiB), pneumococcal disease (PCV) |
|
3 months |
Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, HiB, polio (DTaP/IPV/HiB), meningitis C (MenC) |
|
4 months |
Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, HiB, polio (DTaP/IPV/HiB), pneumococcal disease (PCV), meningitis C (MenC) |
|
12-13 months |
HiB, meningitis C (HiB/MenC), pneumococcal disease (PCV), measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) |
|
3 years and 4 months to 5 years |
Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio (dTaP/IPV), measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) |
|
Girls aged 12-13 years (Pre-school boosters) |
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) |
|
13-18 years (School Leaver’s Boosters) |
Tetanus, diphtheria and polio (Td/IPV) |
In Portsmouth, most childhood vaccines are given at GP surgeries, and parents should receive invites for vaccinations at the correct intervals either from GP practices or the Child Health Records Department (CHRD).
If you have any queries with regard to your child’s vaccinations, please contact your GP practice in the first instance.
The HPV vaccination is given in schools by the School Nursing Service and girls will be asked to attend for vaccination by this service.
Some children also need seasonal flu vaccination. These groups include all those children over six months old who have chronic heart, respiratory, liver, kidney or neurological disease, diabetes or immunosuppression.
These are again provided by GP practices and they will contact parents to arrange appointments to administer flu vaccine. If you are unsure whether your child needs flu vaccine please contact your GP practice.
Some children may also require either BCG (to protect against tuberculosis (TB)) or Hepatitis B vaccine if they are at significant risk of these diseases, and if this is the case this is usually identified and started at birth.
Further information on childhood vaccinations and the diseases they protect against is available by clicking on the links in the External Links section.