Vaccination Related Websites

Health Protection Agency (HPA)

The following information relevant to vaccination can be accessed on this site:

• Vaccination of individuals with uncertain or incomplete immunisation status (PDF, 83 KB) algorithm for planning individual vaccine schedules where necessary
• Vaccination Guidelines
• Immunoglobulin Handbook
• Health Protection Report (HPR) for up to date disease surveillance reports
• COVER (vaccine uptake) data
• Disease specific information (see Infections Topics A-Z)

Department of Health (DH)

http://www.dh.gov.uk

Vaccination-relevant sections of this site include:

• Chief Medical Officer page for vaccine Updates, Letters, Publications and Urgent Communications (past and present) about changes to vaccine policy and recommendations.
• Immunisation against Infectious Disease 2006 (Green Book)
  Chapters can be downloaded individually and printed off - updated chapters will replace previous versions as they become available
• Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)
  The Minutes from the meetings of this independent expert advisory committee which advises the government on matters relating to communicable diseases and immunisation can be viewed on this site.
• NHS Immunisation Statistics

NHS Choices information about immunisation

This site (link to http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/vaccinations/Pages/Landing.aspx) provides NHS-accredited, up-to-date information about vaccines for patients and parents. It provides answers to many of the commonly-asked questions about vaccinations and how they protect health. It also provides facts about routine NHS vaccinations, information on vaccines for people in special risk groups, and basic information for those travelling abroad.

Great Ormond Street Hospital/Institute for Child Health

The Great Ormond Street Hospital Immunisation page is designed for both parents and health professionals. It includes a facility for asking questions, a recent news section and useful links to other websites.

World Health Organization (WHO)

This site contains lots of vaccine information in various sections:

• Country by Country Profile
  This invaluable site presents immunisation coverage, incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases and the immunisation schedules for every county in the world.
• Vaccines and Immunisation Update
  Details the latest progress in polio and measles eradication programmes and new developments in vaccines and vaccine technology
• Health Topics
  This page contains an A-Z of health topics including detailed information about vaccine-preventable diseases
• Hot Topics
  Current affairs articles relating to vaccine safety e.g. MMR, thiomersal, rotavirus vaccine.

PATH's Vaccine Resource - Library

PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) is an international, nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions, enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health. Their Vaccine Resource Library offers a wide variety of high-quality, scientifically accurate documents and links on vaccine-preventable diseases and topics in immunization. In addition to resources developed at PATH, the library contains materials published by international leaders in public health, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, the GAVI Alliance, and many others.

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH)

Access the following RCPCH publications through this site:

• Immunisation of the Immunocompromised Child - February 2002
• Position Statement on Injection Technique - March 2002

National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC)

NaTHNaC has been funded by the Department of Health in order to protect the health of British travellers by providing up to date advice for health professionals who are advising travellers. Telephone 9am-12pm and 2pm-4.30pm Mon-Fri 0845 602 6712 (Health Care Professionals only).

Their very informative and comprehensive website contains the latest information about all aspects of travel including detailed travel immunisation information.

It is also possible to download sample chapters of the completely revised 2010 edition of Health Information for Overseas Travel, commonly known as the UK 'Yellow Book' which contains comprehensive information and advice for travel health professionals.

Vaccine Product Information

The electronic Medicines Compendium (eMC) provides electronic Data Sheets, Summaries of Product Characteristics (SPCs) and Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) for all vaccines.

Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies

This site provides extensive unbiased vaccine study reviews and evidence-based scientific advice on matters of medicine and health.

Other countries

Although vaccine schedules differ, much of the vaccine information available in other countries is often very useful

• America:
  http://www.immunize.org/, http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/
• Australia:
  http://www.immunise.health.gov.au/
• Canada:
  http://www.immunize.cpha.ca/, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/
• New Zealand:
  http://www.immune.org.nz

This is not a completely comprehensive list of all useful vaccination websites only a guide to those which contain important researched and factual information, publications and guidelines of use to professionals involved in vaccination. Using the links pages provided on individual sites listed above will often enable you to access many more vaccine sites.

Immunisation Department, Centre for Infections, Health Protection Agency

Last reviewed: 2 December 2010