Vaccination Resources

The measles vaccine represents a monumental achievement in modern medicine, effectively curtailing childhood mortality and morbidity on a global scale. However, recent trends in measles vaccine uptake present a concerning scenario, with declining rates posing a threat to the progress achieved in eradicating this highly contagious disease. This article delves into the pivotal role of the measles vaccine in safeguarding child health, exploring the reasons underlying vaccine hesitancy, including the controversial Lancet article, and discusses the additional impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on vaccine adoption. Drawing on global data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI), this piece also assesses the consequences of dwindling measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine coverage on community well-being and offers strategies to combat vaccine hesitancy.

Making decisions can be tough. Anyone who’s ever been confronted with the choice between a chocolate Hob-nob and custard cream knows that weighing up the pros and cons can involve some pretty serious soulsearching. But, while most people face a host of trivial everyday decisions about the clothes they wear or the food they eat, nurses are in a unique position in that the choices they make about patient care can literally involve life or death. 

However, with the government’s recent announcement of compulsory vaccination for all frontline NHS staff, nurses are about to find out that one decision — whether or not to be vaccinated against Covid-19 — is about to be taken out of their hands. We explore what this means for general practice nurses (GPNs), and discuss the pros and cons of Covid-19 vaccination.

Yellow fever is a disease that has existed for centuries and continues to have grave health implications in the countries where it is present, with a current, ongoing outbreak in Brazil. It is one of the few diseases that is still bound by the International Health Regulations (World Health Organization [WHO], 2005), and can require an international certificate of vaccination or prophylaxis for entry to certain countries. It remains a serious disease for those living or visiting areas of risk, so a clear understanding of the risks by healthcare professionals is vital. Mosquito bite prevention is key to minimising the risk of exposure, but there is also an effective vaccine. However, this vaccine does have rare but serious potential side-effects. Due to this risk, the vaccine is contraindicated in some travellers, and extreme caution needs to be taken with other groups. In the UK, the vaccine can only be administered in registered centres by staff who have been trained accordingly. All staff advising and administering this vaccine need to be highly trained and understand the nature of the disease, as well as the risk assessment process to ensure that patients receive optimum healthcare advice.