Some infectious diseases can be fatal to children or cause lasting damage to their health. Your child’s immune system needs help to fight those diseases. Immunisation gives protection against some known infectious diseases. Vaccines stimulate the body to produce antibodies that fight infection. Immunisation is also known as “vaccination”, “jab” or “injection”.
Due to the high number of children receiving vaccinations over the past couple of decades, many serious childhood infectious diseases have disappeared altogether, like diptheria, polio, or tetanus or been dramatically reduced, such as measles and whooping cough.
We fully support the childhood vaccination programme and we encourage parents to get their children vaccinated when these are offered. More information can be found at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/nhs-vaccinations-and-when-to-have-them/ which shows the full schedule of immunisations from newborns to teenagers.
You can also speak to the Practice Nurse or your health visitors for further information.