New childhood immunisations

The 5 in 1 vaccine (DTaP/IVP/Hib) is given to all children at 2 months, again at 3 months and then at 4 months. The 5 in 1 vaccine (DTaP/IVP/Hib) protects against (diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough or pertussis, polio and haemophilius influenzae). The Meningitis C vaccine (MenC), which protects against one type of meniningitis and serious blood infections in children, at 3 and 4 months of age. The Pneumococcal Conjugate vaccine (PCV), which was added to the childhood vaccine schedule in September 2006, protects your baby from the pnemococcal form of pneumonia, septicaemia (blood poisoning) and meningitis and is given at 2 and 4 months. Boosters for Hib and MenC are given at 12 months to maintain protection through early childhood. Your baby's first MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, is given at 13 months along with a booster for PCV.

Pre-school booster

A 4 in 1 vaccine (dTaP/IPV) was introduced in 2004 for Pre-school booster immunisation. The main changes were, a change to a low dose diptheria component and the addition of inactived polio vaccine (IPV) instead of the live oral polio vaccine drops (OPV). This vaccination will be given along with the MMR (measles, mumps & rubella) vaccine, in the other thigh between the ages of 3 years 4 months and 5 years.

Teenage booster vaccine

A 3 in 1 vaccine (Td/IVP) (low dose diptheria, tetanus and inactivated polio) was introduced in 2004 for teenagers aged between 13 and 18 years old. This vaccine is also used for for adults or individuals over 10 years of age who have never been vaccinated.

There is no thiomersal in these new vaccines. A recent review of the evidence about thiomersal carried out by the US Institute of Medicine found no links with autism.

Adult tetanus vaccine

Adults requiring a booster dose of tetanus will now receive the combined Diptheria/tetanus (DT) vaccine. A primary course of three tetanus injections as a baby followed by two booster doses pre-school and again at age 15 years is considered to give lifetime immunity. Most people will not therefore require tetanus boosters unless they sustain a high-risk injury which would be an open wound contaminated with earth where animals may have grazed and soiled the ground.

MMR vaccine (measles, mumps & rubella)

All the evidence supports the MMR vaccine as safe and that to best protect the health and well being of your child, you should vaccinate.

There has been so much talk recently about MMR in the media that it must make parents consider that where there is so much smoke there must be some fire. After hearing all the radio and television reports and having read all the scientific reports, I personally have no doubt about the safety of the vaccine.

The arguments about measles, measles vaccine, MMR vaccine and Crohn's disease (an inflammatory bowel disorder) are based upon the reported presence of measles virus in the ulcers of the bowels of Crohn's sufferers and an increase in numbers of Crohn's disease sufferers who have been vaccinated with MMR.

All the studies show that measles virus is not found in Crohn's disease ulcers and that when studies are done properly, they show that the increase in the number of children getting Crohn's disease started before the introduction of MMR or MR vaccination and that following the introduction of the MR and MMR vaccines no increase in the rate by which children were getting Crohn's was seen. These results are the same as seen in other countries such as the USA and Finland, who have been using these MMR vaccines for about 10 years longer than we have been here in the UK.

Arguments about MMR vaccine and autism (a developmental disorder which appears within the first 3 years of life affecting brain function and resulting in behavioural and communication problems for the affected child) are linked to the supposed problems with measles virus and Crohn's disease and the fact that autism usually appears within a year or two after children get their MMR vaccine. There is no measles virus and Crohn's disease link. Studies in the UK have shown autism was becoming more common a decade before the MMR vaccine was introduced in the UK and in Sweden there was no increase in the rate of autism following the introduction of the two dose MMR vaccine programme. The Autism Society of America do not even mention MMR on their web site.

All the evidence supports the MMR vaccine as safe and that to best protect the health and well being of your child, you should vaccinate.

Copies of the MMR fact sheets are available from reception at the Bixter Health Centre.