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Improvements to childhood immunisation programme

  • Published date:
    9 August 2004

Following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the changes are:

  • Using inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) instead of live oral polio (OPV) vaccine for all ages.

 Due to the success of the global vaccination programme polio has been eliminated from large parts of the world. The risk of polio infection in the UK is now very low. This means that a switch can be made to IPV. This vaccine is as effective as OPV in protecting the individual and does not carry the risk of vaccine associated paralytic polio (VAPP) which occurs very rarely with OPV.

  • Using a new acellular pertussis vaccine instead of whole cell pertussis   vaccine to protect babies and children against whooping cough. This new  acellular pertussis vaccine provides the same high level of protection but  tends to cause fewer minor reactions in children.
  • The new vaccines are also thiomersal free. This meets the internationally agreed aim of reducing the exposure of children to mercury if it can be avoided.
  • The new vaccines are combined so that children will be able to receive them as one injection.

Health Minister, John Hutton said:

'Immunisation is the best way to protect children from serious disease and the routine childhood programme has been extremely effective in achieving this. The changes set out today will further improve the programme and benefit children. The polio component is safer than the previous oral vaccine and the switch to acellular pertussis will mean children are less likely to suffer from minor reactions such as swelling and redness. '

The new vaccines for primary, pre-school and teenage immunisation will be introduced from late September this year. Parents and health professionals will be able to access information about the changes to the routine programme on the new immunisation website provided.

Notes to editor

2. The new vaccines for pre-school immunisation of children from three years four months to five  years old dTaP/IPV (brand name Repevax) will be supplied for pre-school boosting. It   replaces the DTaP and OPV vaccines previously given.

3. The new vaccine for teenagers from 13 to 18 years of age Td/IPV (brand name Revaxis) will  be supplied for teenage boosting. It replaces the Td and OPV vaccines that were previously  given.

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