Shropshire vaccination rate among the best
The vaccination programme in Shropshire is performing better than elsewhere in the country – but not enough people are having their flu jabs.
Babies, pregnant women, those under the age of 65 but who are deemed to be at risk and the over 65s are all taking advantage of a wide ranging programme of immunisation against diseases including meningitis, whooping cough, polio, diphtheria and shingles.
The uptake rate of vaccinations in Shropshire for the period 2014/15 was outlined by Dr Ifran Ghani, consultant in public health, who was speaking at a meeting of Shropshire Council's health and wellbeing board held at Shirehall, Shrewsbury.
He outlined how the current programme for immunisation against cervical cancer in girls aged 12 to 13 is performing well above the national average uptake rate of 87 per cent with more than 91 per cent of Shropshire schoolgirls being vaccinated.
"Overall the uptake rate of vaccinations in Shropshire is good," he said. "The vaccination rate for whooping cough is well above the national average as is that for shingles."
For whooping cough the national percentage uptake is around 50 per cent but in Shropshire the figure hovers closer to 70 per cent.
And for shingles the uptake for 70-year-olds is around 58 per cent while nationally it is 53 per cent. In the 79-year-old age bracket it is 60 per cent against a national average of 54 per cent.
However, flu vaccinations in the county are performing below the national target of 75 per cent take-up rate.
For the over-65s 73.8 per cent of the population have opted for a vaccination while 55.6 per cent of under-65s who are deemed at risk and 54.2 per cent of pregnant women have taken the opportunity to be vaccinated against the flu.
But despite falling below NHS targets, the figures show that Shropshire is performing better than the average for the rest of England. The average take up rate for England for over-65s is 72.8, for under-65s at risk it is 50.3 per cent and for pregnant women the take-up figure for 2014 was 44.1 per cent.
Rod Thompson, director for public health, said: "We have to change how people think about immunisation. It is down to changing hearts and minds."
