However, there are a few vaccinations only offered to babies and children who are at high risk of developing certain illnesses. The majority of children will not be offered these vaccinations on the NHS.

Varicella Injection against Chickenpox

If you have a child with a suppressed immune system (due to an organ transplant or cancer treatment for example) all of your children will be offered a chickenpox vaccination. Chickenpox is very contagious so all siblings should be given the vaccination to prevent the weaker child from contracting the illness. The jab can be given to babies over a year old. If your child is over 12 years old they will need two doses of the vaccination given 4-8 weeks apart.

BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) Injection against Tuberculosis

This vaccination is offered to people who are more likely to come into contact with tuberculosis. This may include babies born in inner-city London where TB rates are higher than the rest of the country, people working in a healthcare environment, people who have been in contact with someone with TB and people who have moved to the UK from a country with a high rate of TB.

Flu Vaccination

Some children find it difficult to fight off flu, or are at greater risk of developing complications as a result of flu. It is recommended that these children have a flu jab each year at the start of the flu season. Your child may need the flu jab if they suffer one of the following conditions:

Respiratory disease such as chronic asthma, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis or emphysema

Kidney disease including nephrotic syndrome or on dialysis

Diabetes mellitus

Immunosuppression due to disease or treatment

Children without a spleen or whose spleen does not work properly

Hepititis B Vaccination

Children who are at high risk of exposure to Hepititis B (eg. if they are born to an infected mother) are offered this injection. It may also be offered to drug users, people with multiple sexual partners, people travelling to high-risk countries, people who work in certain environments (prison, hospitals etc), people with liver or kidney disease and people who receive regular blood transfusions.

August 2012

Share This...

MMR Jab Fears Could Cost Lives

Popular...

Latest Articles

Foods to Avoid

There are some foods which you should not give to your baby when he is very young.

The No-Cry Discipline Solution

Nearly all parents acknowledge that while raising children can be the best and most rewarding job of your life, their discipline is often the most complicated, challenging and frustrating aspect of parenthood.

Childhood Obesity versus Body Image

Obesity is one of the most serious health epidemics facing our society today, with one in three children currently overweight or obese in the UK.

Gary Barlow's Baby Stillborn

Gary Barlow and his wife Dawn have just announced that their daughter Poppy was stillborn on the weekend. The baby, their 4th child, was delivered stillborn on Saturday.

Dave the Dad 30 - Out With a Shout

I'm a fairly restrained person. Sometimes when Jane is in the house with Tom and their playing gets a touch boisterous I'll slide to the back windows and close them. Not the type of person then who would enjoy pushing a screeching toddler along a crowded beach on a windy day in mid-summer.