Research and analysis

HPR volume 13 issue 34: news (27 September and 2 October)

Updated 20 December 2019

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-report-volume-13-2019/hpr-volume-13-issue-34-news-27-september-and-2-october

Quarterly COVER report (April to June 2019) in summary

This issue of the Health Protection Report (HPR) includes the routine quarterly UK COVER report for April to June 2019, published on 27 September. This report presents the latest data for routine childhood immunisations evaluated for children aged 1, 2 and 5 years of age, in the April to June 2019 quarter, in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

These provisional data show that, overall, coverage was stable or increased compared with the previous quarter. While these results are encouraging, small fluctuations commonly occur from one quarter to the next, and these changes should be interpreted with caution.

Main points from the UK quarterly report were:

  • UK vaccine coverage increased slightly or remained the same compared to the last quarterly report for all vaccines evaluated at 1, 2 and 5 years of age
  • UK coverage for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b and hepatitis B [1] evaluated at the first birthday all increased by 0.2%, to 92.5%, 93.1% and 92.7% respectively, compared to the previous quarter. Rotavirus remained unchanged at 90.5% for the third successive quarter
  • 24-month UK vaccine coverage estimates for all vaccines offered on or after the first birthday increased by 0.1 to 0.3% compared to the previous quarter
  • UK coverage at 5 years remained very similar to the previous quarter with no change in 3 booster vaccines (MMR2 87.4%, DTaP/IPV 86.2%, Hib/MenC 93.1%). Primary DTaP/IPV/Hib3 and MMR1 increased by 0.1% to 95.7%
  • in England, compared with the previous quarter, vaccine coverage increased or was stable for all vaccines except for rotavirus measured at 12 months (-0.1% to 90%) and Hib/MenC measured at 5 years (-0.1% to 92.6%)
  • five-year coverage for the 3 devolved administrations continued to exceed the 95% WHO target for MMR1 and was over 97% for DTaP/IPV/Hib3. In England 10 of 13 local teams exceed the 95% target for both vaccines. Coverage at 5 years for these vaccines primarily reflects children vaccinated 4 years ago

Annual data for England, for April 2018 to March 2019, which includes corrections from previously published 2018 to 2019 quarterly data, have also recently been published as a joint report between NHS Digital and PHE [2]; this report shows decreases in vaccine coverage for all vaccines evaluated at 1, 2 and 5 years of age compared with 2017 to 2018.

The main annual report is accompanied by an interactive dashboard which presents data as maps and charts allowing comparisons to be made between geographical areas (such as English local authorities and regions, and countries of the UK) and allowing trend data over time to be viewed.

References and notes

  1. Children who reached their first birthday in the April to June 2019 quarter were all scheduled for 3 doses of combined diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, polio, Hib and hepatitis B vaccine (known as DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB or hexavalent vaccine) which replaced DTaP/IPV/Hib (pentavalent) vaccine from autumn 2017.
  2. PHE and NHS Digital (26 September 2019). Childhood Vaccination Coverage Statistics: England, 2018 to 2019.

Infection and vaccine coverage reports in this issue

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