Health News: Wales and Scotland - Immunisation rates fall behind
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Not enough children are being vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella, according to statistics on Scotland and Wales released last week.
Figures on the MMR jab for Wales showed there was little change in theuptake for two-year-olds at 88 per cent in the first quarter of 2007,although the uptake of the vaccination in five-year-olds is at thehighest ever at 78 per cent. But jabs for both two- and five-year-oldsfell short of the 95 per cent target, leaving one in five childrenstarting school without protection.
In Scotland, the vaccination rate for five-year-olds has almost reachedthe 95 per cent target. But the proportion of two-year-olds receivingthe jab fell half a per cent in the first quarter of 2007 to 92.3 percent.
Judith Tait, child health information team leader at InformationServices Division Scotland, said overall uptake was increasing and hadrisen by about five per cent over the past five years.
- www.wales.nhs.uk; www.isdscotland.org.
