Parents of secondary school pupils in NHS Ayrshire & Arran are being asked to look out for vaccine consent forms being sent home from school.
Families are being asked to discuss the vaccines with their children, before signing and returning the forms to their school as soon as possible.
In Scotland, three routine vaccines are offered in secondary schools:
• HPV,
• MenACWY and
• DTP.
They provide young people, their families, and their communities with long-term protection against these serious diseases. If young people don’t get their vaccinations, the risks to themselves and those around them are likely to increase.
All S1 pupils are offered vaccination against Human papillomavirus (HPV), a very common virus that can cause certain cancers including, cervical cancer, head and neck cancers, and anogenital cancers (for example, cancers of the anus, penis, vagina and vulva).
The HPV vaccination programme started in Scotland in 2008, and a study published last year shows that no cervical cancer cases have been detected in fully vaccinated women following HPV immunisation at age 12-13. Despite this, the report shows that vaccination rates in S1 pupils have declined gradually over 10 years.
Pupils in S3 are offered the MenACWY vaccine to help protect them from meningitis and septicaemia (blood poisoning), as well as the DTP vaccine to protect against diphtheria, tetanus, and polio. Both vaccines complete the childhood vaccination course and provide longer-term immunity.
NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s Director of Public Health, Lynne McNiven said:
“Ensuring your child is vaccinated is the best thing you can do to help protect them against a range of serious and, in some cases, life-threatening diseases. Local schools have sent out the HPV consent forms this January, so parents and carers should look out for them in school bags and chat to their children about the free vaccines offered, before signing and returning consent forms to school by the deadline.”
The national Chat. Sign. Protect. campaign is helping to raise awareness of secondary school vaccines. It includes useful information such as videos answering some of the most common questions about secondary school vaccinations, information in other formats and languages, and advice for young people who are not in mainstream school.
