Agenda item

An update on behalf of Kakoli Choudhury (Health Protection Consultant, Bracknell).

Lesley Wyman introduced her report, which aimed to brief the Board on the Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination catch up programme and the progress that the Thames Valley Area Team were making in delivering the national target.

There was a national target to immunise 95% of children with one dose of the vaccine by the age of two and a second dose of the vaccine by the age of five. Although the rate of those completing the course of vaccinations was good in West Berkshire, improvement was required as the 95% target was not being reached.

There had been a rise in the incidences of Measles in 2011/12, which had carried on through until 2013. There was a higher rate of cases in teenagers, which had never before been an issue. The 10 – 16 year old age group was the one most affected by the adverse publicity relating to the MMR vaccine between 1998 and 2003 and therefore there were larger numbers of children of this age unimmunised or partially immunised against measles. 

Lesley Wyman drew the Boards attention to the section of the report which detailed what was being done to increase the immunisation rate and formed part of the MMR catch-up campaign. Phase one of the campaign in Berkshire included communications to encourage parents or guardians of unvaccinated and partially vaccinated young people to take them to their General Practice and the targeting of vulnerable groups such as Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families.

The proposed outcome for West Berkshire was for 95% of young people aged 10 – 16 years to have received at least one dose of the MMR by September 2013.

Lesley Wyman reported that there was difficulty in obtaining data showing which young people had received one or both of the doses. Regarding phase two of the campaign, there would be a meeting of the Thames Valley Steering Group including Directors of Public Health to agree the actions, which would be taken locally. Three from the six unitary authorities had achieved or almost achieve the 95% target for the first MMR immunisation and all apart from Slough were above 90%.

Percentages included within the report as part of Sentinel Survey, showed West Berkshire was achieving positively however, the caveat was added that the percentages did not take all GP practices into account and therefore were not a total representation. Following an audit it had been found that a number of GP Practices were under reporting on the particular age group of concern, therefore is was possible that more 10 – 16 year olds had received the MMR than indicated by the data.

Lesley Wyman reported that it was about encouraging parents and schools to identify children who had not received immunisation. General practices were paid to identify children, encourage them into surgeries and give them the MMR through a Locally Enhance Service.

There was intention to provide extra vaccinations within schools however, only within South Reading and Slough where the number of those immunised was less.

Lesley Wyman referred to page 51 of the agenda which featured tables showing the trend in MMR immunisation in Reading, West Berkshire and Wokingham. In West Berkshire, the percentage of those receiving the first dose by two years was 95.9% and 92.6% the second dose. In essence it was the second does which required further focus as this needed to be pushed up to 95%.

Councillor Graham Jones noted that the percentages within the report were not representative of all practice data and questioned if Lesley Wyman believed the data was representative of those practices, which had not submitted. Lesley Wyman confirmed that this was difficult to confirm however, reported that the Area Teams were working hard to obtain the data.

Councillor Jones enquired whether the plan to offer MMR within schools was decided or still up for discussion and Lesley Wyman confirmed that this was currently a consideration. Councillor Jones expressed the opinion that this seemed like the most proactive approach to increasing the number vaccinated.

Rachael Wardell asked if the school approach was taken, whether changes would need to be made to school nursing contracts. Lesley Wyman felt that this was unlikely as there would be a relatively small number needing the vaccination. Dr Bal Bahia pointed out that if general practices were struggling to identify who needed the vaccine, how could school nurses be expected to do this.

There was no known risk to giving someone the MMR vaccine twice. On these grounds Rachael Wardell suggested the MMR being offered to everyone and then parents could withdraw their children if they knew they had already been immunised. Cathy Winfied felt that this approach should be a last resort and in the first instance assurance was required on the data. It was confirmed that the number of those not immunised in Swansea, where the outbreak of Measles had occurred, was much higher than in West Berkshire.

Graham Jones summarised from discussions that there was an ongoing action to obtain and strengthen data and then if required the schools route should be progressed.

Lesley Wyman referred to her second report on page 53 of the agenda and requested that the Board note its contents.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.