This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Latest immunisation statistics
09/06/2003
The Chief Medical Officer has reminded parents of the
importance of immunising their children to prevent
childhood diseases in light of the latest immunisation
statistics.
Quarterly figures to the end of March 2003 published
today by the Information and Statistics Division (ISD)
show:
- a consistently high take up of childhood vaccines
but another slight decrease in MMR uptake
- for MMR, the immunisation rate at 24 months
decreased by 0.5 per cent - from 86.6 per cent to 86.1
per cent
- the uptake rates for other childhood vaccines -
diphtheria, tetanus, polio, whooping cough, hib and
meningitis C - remain strong, with each of the six
maintaining an uptake of over 97 per cent, well above
the target uptake rate of 95 per cent
Dr Mac Armstrong said:
"I welcome the generally high level of uptake of
immunisation against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, whooping
cough, hib and meningitis C. This means that all children,
and the population generally, can be assured of protection
against these six serious diseases.
"These figures continue to reflect the tremendous
efforts being made by health professionals and parents to
commit to the childhood immunisation programme. The annual
uptake rate for MMR appears to be stabilising at 87.5 per
cent compared with 87.7 per cent for 2001-02, but it
concerns me that the quarterly uptake is at the lowest
level since the end of 2000.
"Immunisation in early childhood is still the safest and
most effective way of protecting all children, and the
wider community, against the risks of serious infectious
diseases. The Executive will continue to work with health
professionals and parents to restore confidence in MMR. It
should be remembered that postponing vaccination, or
leaving children unvaccinated, poses risks to the whole
community and could result in an outbreak of these
potentially fatal diseases."
The Chief Medical Officer launched a
Hib Booster campaign on 2 June 2003 to counter the
recent rise in the number of young children developing Hib
disease, which causes a number of serious diseases
including meningitis and septicaemia.
The
MMR discussion pack can be accessed through the NHS
Health Scotland website at
www.hebs.co.uk/services/pubs/pubfulltext.cfm?TxtTCode=1172&catnav=3D=.
The publication
NHSScotland Child Health Statistics: Immunisation
statistics, quarter ending 31 March 2003 is available
from the NHS' Information and Statistics Division website:
http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk.