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Immunizations - childhood vaccination programme - Management
Basis for recommendation
These recommendations are based on government policy as discussed in Immunisation against infectious disease (the 'Green Book'), published by the Department of Health [DH, 2006d].
- Although the license for MenC states that doses should be given 2 months apart, evidence from UK studies suggest that a one-month interval provides adequate immunogenicity, and this is the schedule recommended by the Department of Health.
- The diseases prevented by vaccines used in the Childhood Immunization Programme cause (or have caused in the past) extensive morbidity and mortality. In most cases, the incidence of these diseases has been greatly reduced by use of vaccines, and in some cases diseases have been virtually eradicated in the UK.
- The quality of evidence to support the use of vaccines depends largely on when the vaccine was introduced. The efficacy of vaccine components that have been in use for decades, for instance, is usually evident by the marked fall in incidence of the disease it protects against compared with the period prior to the vaccine's introduction. Newer vaccines are more likely to have evidence from controlled trials to support their effectiveness and safety.
- For further information, see individual diseases in Supporting evidence.
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