By James Martin McCarthy
Copyright belfastlive
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has encouraged parents to ensure that their children recieve their vaccinations after a drop in the number of children in Northern Ireland being vaccinated. The Minister was responding to a written question from UUP MLA Robbie Butler, who asked for an update on the uptake of childhood vaccinations. Responding to the question, Mike Nesbitt blamed the decline on several factors, including a lack of confidence in vaccines. “Northern Ireland has an excellent and extensive childhood vaccination schedule in place to enable children to receive protection at various stages of childhood against a wide range of diseases,” he said. “However, since around 2017 the childhood vaccine uptake rates had been declining by a small but persistent rate. In response, the Public Health Agency established the ‘Improving Childhood Vaccination Uptake Working Group’ which is working to identify why uptake rates have fallen and implement how to improve uptake rates. There are thought to be several reasons behind the decline, such as complacency, inconvenience in accessing vaccines and a lack of confidence or hesitancy in a vaccine. “Full vaccination coverage is available on the PHA website but as an example -coverage rates for April to June 2025 for both doses of MMR, the uptake was 86.6% at 5 years old. For the Men B vaccination, uptake was 87.04% for 3 doses at 24 months, and for the 6 in 1 vaccination coverage at 12 months, uptake was 90.7%. These figures show very small decline since the previous quarter. “It is important that everyone is aware that the most effective way to prevent and control diseases is by maintaining a high uptake rate. Vaccination programmes result in better control of infectious diseases and reduction in the numbers of children becoming unwell and needing hospital treatment, which in turn reduces the burden of diseases on our health system. “I would encourage all parents/guardians to ensure their children are fully vaccinated.” For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.
