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Home › Topics › Infectious Diseases › Infections A-Z › Vaccine coverage and COVER (Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly) ›Publications ›  Summary of Q09-2 and Q09-3 Quarterly report (July to December 2009)
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Summary of Q09-2 and Q09-3 Quarterly report (July to December 2009)

Vaccination coverage statistics for children aged up to five years in the United Kingdom: July to December 2009

  • UK coverage of DTaP/IPV/Hib3 at 12 months is now 94% at its highest level since UK statistics were first produced in 1995.  Primary MenC (93.4%) and PCV (93.7%) coverage at 12 months in UK are close to 94%. 
  • UK coverage for DTaP/IPV/Hib3 at 24 months exceeded the WHO target of 95% which was last achieved in 2000. London coverage exceeded 90% for the first time in quarter 3 (October to December 2009). 
  • UK coverage for MMR, PCV and Hib/MenC booster at 24 months increased by just over 1% since quarter 1 (April to June 2009) to 88.6%, 88.5% and 90.5% respectively;  the greatest improvement in MMR in an English region was in London, up 3.7% to 80.5%.
  • UK coverage of pre-school MMR and DTaP/IPV boosters at 5 years also increased by just over 1% to 83.2% and 85.5% respectively. Similar increases in coverage for these immunisations occurred in seven out of ten English regions in quarter 3.
  • Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland achieved greater than 95% for:

    All three immunisations at 12 months

    DTaP/IPV/Hib and MenC at 24 months

    DT/Pol and MenC at 5 years

    All devolved administrations achieved greater than 90% for MMR, PCV and Hib/MenC boosters at 24 months; NI and Scotland achieved greater than 90% for pre-school MMR and DTaP/IPV boosters at 5 years.

  • In England, the continuing upwards trend in coverage of the childhood vaccines is likely to be related to the introduction of immunisation performance within the Vital Signs programme as part of the NHS Operating Framework.   There have been particularly significant increases in vaccine coverage in all age cohorts in London which correlate with the introduction of NHS London's Immunisation Improvement Programme.
  • In contrast, coverage estimates for the selective neonatal hepatitis B vaccination programme are considerably lower than those obtained for routine antigens evaluated at 12 and 24 months:

    For children born to HBsAg positive mothers, 74% at 12 months and 50% at 24 months had completed their Hep B immunisations

    The largest numbers of infants at risk reside in London, where coverage was 5% above the national average (79% at 12 months)

    Returns for neonatal hepatitis B data to the COVER programme have been consistently incomplete, with more than 20% of PCTs not reporting

     


Last reviewed: 18 May 2011