Regulation, Policy and Public Attitude to Vaccinations

The Department of Health (DH) set policy for the control of infectious diseases. In the UK by the age of five children will have received immunisation for: Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR); Polio (Polio vaccine); Diphtheria, tetanus, Pertussis (DTP); some types of meningitis (Hib and Men C) as part of the Childhood immunisation Programme. The aim of such programmes is to achieve population and individual immunity in order to interrupt the person to person spread of disease. The rate of immunity within the general population needed in order to achieve this is around 95% for most diseases.

In the UK policy is focused on vaccinations being offered on a voluntary basis with parental consent needed for childhood immunisation. As vaccines are offered on a voluntary basis peoples willingness to participate in programmes is key. There have been many strategies to boost participation. The most common being the provision of information by the DH for health professionals which presents the individual risks and benefits in line with the current health care climate, here a focus is placed on individual responsibility and choice. Issues have been raised with this approach, some suggest that there should be more focus on the collective benefit and even to instill a public duty to be vaccinated. This radical approach has not been adopted as current research highlights that decisions are made more often on a personal basis.

Studies have shown that mothers of Young children are more influenced by the perceived risk of a vaccine rather than balancing the overall risks and benefits. Spontaneous awareness of immunisation fluctuates with media coverage. ^[25]