HSE urges parents to vaccinate children

The school vaccination programme will begin this month.

The HSE has called on local parents to vaccinate their children against preventable diseases.

Measles, whooping cough, meningitis and HPV are all among diseases it says can be prevented with vaccines.

The HSE’s immunisation programme begins in schools on September 27th and information and consent packs will be sent home to parents.

“We would ask parents to keep an eye out for these and urge them to return these completed to the school, consenting to vaccination of their child”, says Dr Lucy Jessop, Director of Public Health, HSE National Immunisation Office.

Children in Junior Infants will be offered two vaccines: the 4 in 1 booster to protect against diphtheria, polio, tetanus and whooping cough and a second dose of the MMR vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella.

All students entering first year of secondary school will be offered a tetanus, low dose diphtheria and low dose whooping cough vaccine and a booster dose of the Meningococcal ACWY vaccine which protects teenagers from life-threatening meningitis infections. The HPV vaccine will also be offered to prevent cervical cancer.

More information can be found on the National Immunisation Office website.