World Health Organisation: World Immunisation Week 24-30th April 2014.
Unicef states that if all children around the world were vaccinated against the available childhood vaccines by 2020 that 25 million lives would be saved. Encouragingly vaccines are safe and cheap to use and charities such as Unicef are reaching more and more children worldwide every year. Vaccination against Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio has increased from 20% coverage worldwide in 1980 to 83% in 2012. Go back a century and these diseases killed or maimed many children around the world including the UK. Annual cases of Diphtheria in the early 1900’s were 40,000 to 70,000 annually in the UK with around 5,000 deaths according to the Health Protection Agency. Polio caused 2,000 to 3,000 deaths along with causing severe disability and paralysis in the early part of the 20th century. Polio, due to worldwide vaccination programmes is on its way to being eradicated from the world and only survives in a few countries around the world.
However, WHO suggests that one in five children still miss out on all their childhood immunisations, with outbreaks such as measles causing concern in countries like the UK. This year’s campaign “Know, Check, Protect” is encouraging everyone to know what vaccinations are available, to be responsible and motivated to receive their vaccinations, to make sure they are up to date and to visit their health care provider to get protected.
Many of us are busy working parents and getting the children vaccinated at a convenient time can be difficult. Time is poor for many of us and vaccinations can fall off the “to do” list. That is why the WHO is developing an immunisation app which can help remind you of when vaccinations are due. It can be customised to give you information about country specific schedules, the vaccinations recommended and the diseases they prevent.
Here in the UK we offer excellent childhood vaccinations through the NHS; however, we don’t offer some vaccinations which other developed countries such as the USA, Australia, Germany, France and Ireland routinely give to their child populations. Here at The Travel Clinic Ltd we fill this gap and offer private vaccinations which you may want to consider for your child. These include:
- Varicella (Chickenpox) vaccination
- Meningitis B vaccination (The NHS are considering bringing this into the childhood vaccination schedule but no date has been set for this yet)
- HPV vaccination for boys and adults
- Hepatitis B vaccination
- BCG vaccination
The Travel Clinic would be happy to discuss any of these diseases and the vaccinations used to protect against them. Give us a call on 08455 480543 or email at [email protected] and one of our specialist nurses can discuss your individual needs.
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