Vaccinations & Childhood Immunisations
Vaccinations are one of the safest and most effective ways to protect your child from serious illnesses such as measles, meningitis, whooping cough, polio, and chickenpox. These illnesses can cause long-term complications and, in some cases, can be life-threatening.
💡The NHS offers a free childhood vaccination programme that starts from 8 weeks of age and continues through childhood. Each vaccine is carefully tested for safety and effectiveness and helps protect both your child and the wider community. See our Childhood Immunisations page for more Information.
Meet Our Vaccination Champions
What is a Vaccine Champion?
A vaccine Champion is a Healthcare Professional who has attended additional training specialising in vaccine safety.
Vaccine Champions have two main roles –
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They provide education, build confidence in vaccine safety, and facilitate access to vaccination services.
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They motivate and encourage colleagues to improve vaccine uptake in the clinical setting.
We are passionate about increasing vaccination uptake within our community and workplace. We hope to combat misinformation, address vaccine hesitancy, and share accurate information for all routine immunisations. The benefit of this would be to increase vaccine uptake in our local community and protect everyone living here from serious illnesses.
💡If you are hesitant about getting vaccines due for you or your child, or if you would like to know more about side effects or what other ingredients are in vaccines please either submit an Anima or have a look at the following website for further information – Vaccine Knowledge Project
What happens to our community if we stop having vaccines?
If people stop having vaccines, it’s possible for infectious diseases to quickly spread again. Babies / elderly / pregnant ladies / un-vaccinated individuals and vulnerable people having cancer treatment for example will no longer be protected. Not only will this lead to illness, and dying, but our National Health Service will no longer be able to cope. Remember those early Covid days when the country came to a halt?? This is what our future would look like. So we all need to work as a team to protect ourselves, our family, and vulnerable members of our community.
Facts
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Vaccinations teach our immune systems to fight illness
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Vaccinations contain small amounts of weakened or treated diseases so that our Immune System makes antibodies against the disease
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You cannot catch the disease you are being protected from via vaccination.
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It’s much safer for your immune system to learn this through vaccination than by catching the disease itself
Why are Vaccines Important?
Vaccination is the most important thing we can do to protect ourselves and our children against ill health. Vaccines prevent millions of deaths worldwide every year and are crucial, not only for the individual, but for the health of our community and vulnerable individuals who rely on us all to keep them safe. Vaccines prevent uneccesary visits to hospital and GP’s and they also prevent thousands of people taking days off sick from work or school. See our Vaccinations page for more Information.
Side Effects
Most of the side effects of vaccination are mild and do not last long. The most common side effects of vaccination include:
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the area where the needle goes in looking red, swollen and feeling a bit sore for 2 to 3 days
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feeling a bit unwell or developing a high temperature for 1 or 2 days
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older children and adults may feel faint
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feeling tired, having a headache, mild fever, or flu-like symptoms
Some children might also cry and be upset immediately after the injection. This is normal and they should feel better after a cuddle. Common side effects usually pass after a few days.
Vaccine Safety
All vaccines are thoroughly tested to make sure they will not harm you or your child.
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It often takes many years for a vaccine to make it through the trials and tests it needs to pass for approval.
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Once a vaccine is being used in the UK it’s also monitored for any rare side effects by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It is also carefully monitored to make sure it still works.