Southampton City Council launches survey on childhood immunisation programme
Today (13 June) sees the launch of a survey to explore the views and experiences of routine childhood vaccinations offered to children under five years of age in Southampton
The survey, which will run for three weeks, is seeking the views and experience of parents, carers, guardians and people planning to have children. This is in relation to childhood vaccinations, to understand what opportunities there may be to improve the programme in the future.
In the UK, the childhood vaccination programme is highly successful and has resulted in many common and sometimes fatal diseases, such as measles and polio, becoming rare. These infectious diseases, however, have not gone away.
Southampton City Council is launching the childhood immunisation survey in response to data published by NHS Digital with UK Health Security which reports a declining trend in childhood vaccination uptake following the COVID-19 pandemic*, resulting in many children being at risk of catching deadly diseases.
Councillor Lorna Fielker, Cabinet Member for Adults, Housing and Health said:
“Vaccinations are the most effective way to protect your child from many serious and potentially deadly diseases. It’s important that you take this opportunity to have you say about your views and experiences of childhood immunisations so that we can identify any issues or barriers to children receiving their vaccinations and work towards improving the uptake in Southampton.
By taking part in the survey, you can also enter a prize draw** to be in with a chance of winning a family swimming pass at an Active Nation leisure centre in Southampton. Please do take the opportunity to have your say– we are looking forward to hearing your views.”
The survey, which is being run in partnership with NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, is open until Sunday 2 July.
*Statistics released by NHS digital in 2022 illustrated that vaccination coverage had decreased in 13 out of the 14 routine childhood vaccination measures in 2021-22, with no vaccinations meeting the 95% target set by the WHO. View the report.
**The terms and conditions for the prize draw can be viewed on the survey web page.
