Correspondence

Annexe A - detailed information and guidance for healthcare professionals

Published 10 August 2022

Applies to England

This guidance is based on advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) the UK’s independent advisory committee of immunisation experts.

Information and guidance for healthcare professionals and patients

Healthcare professional information and guidance and an eligibility algorithm to support the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) booster vaccination campaign have been published .

A campaign specific patient information leaflet is available and can also be ordered from the Health Publications website.

See Annexe C for further details on programme information resources to support the change.

IPV-containing vaccines

All IPV containing vaccines have the same polio content and will provide an excellent boost across the whole age range. Based on existing approvals and to allow an immediate response to be implemented, 3 different products are recommended as follows:

• children aged one to less than 3 years 4 months are offered the hexavalent (DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB) vaccine (both Infanrix Hexa© and Vaxelis© to be used)
• children aged 3 years 4 months up to and including 5 year olds are offered Boostrix-IPV© (dTaP/IPV)
• children aged 6 to 9 years are offered Revaxis© (Td/IPV)

Timing and age cohort

The polio vaccination campaign is being launched in response to a public health emergency, so there is a need for rapid deployment of the offer, first of all in the boroughs where poliovirus has been detected and to the rest of London and rapidly thereafter. All children resident in London who turn one by 31 August 2022 and who are under the age of 10 years at 31 August 2022 will be included.

Children who are not up to date with their polio vaccinations should be caught up while other children will be offered an additional dose of IPV-containing vaccine. See full detail in eligibility algorithm.

Vaccine supply

Centrally supplied vaccines for the NHS national immunisation programme and for the management of outbreaks can only be ordered through UKHSA via ImmForm). Providers should note the clinical advice regarding the recommended vaccine type by age group and order sufficient amounts of the appropriate vaccine/s for the clinics they are running.

Where Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are collaborating to deliver at pace and scale, orders and deliveries can be made to a nominated site with an ImmForm account on behalf of all practices.

Vaccines are provided in single dose packs as follows (these are the same as supplied for the routine programme):

• Infanrix Hexa (DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB): powder and suspension for suspension for injection in pre-filled syringe (PFS), (2x needles; one for reconstitution, one for injection)
• Vaxelis (DTaP/IPV/Hib/HepB): suspension for injection in PFS, (no needle)
• Boostrix IPV (dTap/IPV): suspension for injection in PFS, (no needle)
• Revaxis (Td/IPV): suspension for injection in PFS, (no needle)

Patient Group Directions (PGDs)

The PGDs for the IPV vaccines have been reviewed and updated to allow use of the vaccines in the target age ranges in this outbreak response. Some of the age recommendations fall outside of the summary of product characteristics (SPC) for the products and will therefore be ‘off-label’ use. These are now available from the PGD collection on GOV.UK.

Please note these PGDs must be organisationally authorised in section 2 before being adopted by provider organisations and section 7 also completed.