Question to the Minister

Minister's Answer

Childhood vaccinations are provided by GPs to children registered with their practice.  There have been several recent changes in the childhood vaccination schedule, and information has been provided to inform GPs and their practice teams about the new schedule, including through on-line training, and via workshops.

Childhood vaccinations are currently recorded on the Child Health System (CHS), which is also used to schedule vaccination appointments. The Public Health Agency, CHS, and the Strategic Planning and Performance Group have all engaged with GP practices to help improve understanding of the system.

In addition, work to replace CHS through Encompass is ongoing. This will streamline and digitalise processes relating to how children are called and scheduled for routine immunisations.

There can be many reasons for children being overdue for vaccination, including varying numbers of children becoming eligible for each vaccine each week, practice capacity to match that demand, and children not being brought for vaccination appointments.

Practices are regularly informed by CHS about children who are overdue, and practice level teams can look at those variable reasons to consider either how their vaccinations are scheduled or whether to engage with parents. 

My Department does not hold a list of children who are overdue for vaccination. I would encourage any parent who is concerned that their child maybe overdue a vaccination to contact their GP practice to make the appropriate arrangements.