Parents are facing unusual challenges in getting their children vaccinated, such as difficulty booking appointments and a lack of reminders, a new UK report says.
Child health experts argue that the situation is because of "practical or logistical reasons," which are discouraging families more often than fears over the vaccines themselves. In the United Kingdom, vaccine uptake has continued to decline over the past decade, which has resulted in outbreaks of measles and whooping cough.
Vaccination of Children in the UK
Health officials said they are now committed to coordinating with the National Health Service (NHS) to improve vaccine uptake among kids. No childhood vaccine in the region has met the World Health Organization (WHO) target of 95% of children vaccinated since 2022.
Because of this, measles and many other preventable diseases have been reported to have spread several times. A commission of experts from the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) studied the reasons why the situation has become like this, according to the BBC.
An officer for health improvement at RCPCH, Dr. Helen Stewart, said that the steady drop in vaccination rates among children in a wealthy country such as the UK was "extremely concerning."
Read more: CDC Officially Ends Recommendation of COVID-19 Vaccine To Healthy Children, Pregnant Women
However, she noted that vaccine hesitancy, which is when parents are unsure about getting their children vaccinated, is only "part of a very complex picture." Stewart added that the real situation is that there are a lot of parents who require better support and easier access to vaccine appointments.
Another factor that is believed to be driving the issue is the absence of health visitors because individual family circumstances are what influence vaccination decisions. The latest report noted a lack of reminders from GP surgeries regarding scheduled vaccinations, the Independent reported.
Various Challenging Factors
The study also found that parents have fears about being judged for raising concerns regarding vaccines or having beliefs in alternative medicine. The researchers found that there is a growing disparity in vaccine uptake among some ethnic minority groups, socio-economically disadvantaged families, and migrant communities.
The report found that these families are facing language difficulties, digital exclusion, and various challenges in navigating the NHS. It suggests that parents are not always able to access the information they want or need regarding vaccines. It also notes that health professionals need to get more training about how to approach conversations about vaccines.
The health professionals who were interviewed for the study added that there is a need for more pro-vaccine messages on social media platforms. These include coordinating with influencers to spread the message of why vaccines are important, as per the Shropshire Star.
