Here at Henfield Medical Centre, we will be notified by the Children's Health Bureau when your child's immunisations are due and we will send you a letter with an appointment.

As a parent, you may not like seeing your baby or child being given an injection. However, vaccination will help protect them against a range of serious and potentially fatal diseases.

There are three good reasons to have your child vaccinated:

• vaccinations are quick, safe and extremely effective
• once your child has been vaccinated against a disease, their body can fight it off better
• if a child isn't vaccinated, they're at higher risk of catching and becoming very ill from the illness

There will always be some children who are unavoidably unprotected because:

• they can't be vaccinated for medical reasons
• they're too young to be vaccinated
• they can't get to the vaccine clinics
• the vaccine doesn't work (although this is rare)

Measles

Due to children not being vaccinated, the UK has now lost its measles-free status three years after the virus was eliminated in the country.

This potentially deadly and extremely contagious infection can be prevented through at least two doses of the MMR vaccine; this is provided by the NHS and given to our own patients for FREE.

Most patients who do catch measles will recover; however, it can lead to life-threatening complications.

The majority of new measles cases have been patients that were NOT vaccinated as a child; as a consequence has contracted this infection in their younger adulthood.

If more parents have their children vaccinated, then more children in the community will be protected against illness. This lowers the chance of a measles outbreak.

If your child is able to have a vaccine, has not yet had it and overdue please call us on 01273 492255 and we can book them in with our nurse. 

Children's Nasal Flu Vaccines

Invites have started for the 2-3 year olds. All other children eligible for the Flu Vaccine will be done in school. If you miss the school vaccinations, they will run a catch up session. We cannot vaccinate children that missed it at school.

The invites to the 2-3 year olds are being sent via email in the first instance and then via text for you to click on a link and book the appointment yourself.

If you think we do not have your email address or mobile number on your childs record, please contact us on sxicb-wsx.henfieldmc.vaccinations@nhs.net to get their record updated.

If you do not want your child to have the flu vaccine, please email us on the above email address.