Dear Colleagues,
It has come to light that some practices are delaying babies first vaccinations due to a delay in their 6 week check appointment. The national immunisation team have provided assurance that the 8 week vaccinations should be delivered on time even if the baby has not had their 6 week check.
Delaying primary infant immunisations beyond eight weeks risks leaving babies unprotected against serious infections that can be very severe in the very young, e.g. whooping cough. It is not necessary to wait for the six to eight week baby examination to be carried out to give the eight week primary immunisations.
Please see link for full chapter: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immunisation-schedule-the-green-book-chapter-11
We have also covered this issue in more detail in two editions of Vaccine Update linked below.
If you have any queries please contact our team directly at england.londonimms@nhs.net
Kind regards,
London Immunisations Team
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