Help to protect you and your family from potentially deadly diseases.
If you have children, getting them vaccinated isn’t like giving them medicine when they’re already poorly. Instead, vaccinations prevent them from getting potentially life-threatening illnesses, such as measles, polio and meningitis C, in the first place.
Vaccinations are:
Effective
Having a vaccination is always much safer than not having one. They guard against epidemics that used to kill or disable millions of children and adults.
Targeted
At particularly vulnerable times in your life, such as childhood, during pregnancy or old age, it’s especially important that you have the recommended vaccinations.
Safe
Although all medicines can have side-effects, those from vaccines are usually mild. Severe allergic reactions occur in less than one in a million cases.
Key vaccinations
You will usually receive a letter telling you when vaccinations are due, but make sure you are up to date by checking at www.dh.gov.uk/immunisation or by asking at your GP surgery
Flu vaccine
Flu vaccine is given every year, starting around October, to all people aged 65 and over, those with a long-term health condition or weakened immune system, carers, healthcare workers and pregnant women.
The PPV vaccine
Protects the over-65s and those with a long-term health condition against some types of bacterial infection.
Whooping cough vaccine
This should be given to all pregnant women between ideally between 20 and 32weeks, but can be given until you go into labour.
Other vaccinations
May be needed by certain “at-risk” groups such as healthcare workers, prison staff and injecting drug-users, or if you have a long term health condition
For Travel abroad
You may need vaccinations such as hepatitis A, typhoid and cholera, depending on where you are travelling. For more information, visit www.dh.gov.uk/immunisation
