Note: Following publication of this report on 28 September 2011, revised Hepatitis B data was received from 6 PCTs. The main PDF report and the Hepatitis B tables files were updated on 2 December 2011.

Blank values were originally published in Table 12a of NHS Immunisation Statistics, England, 2010-11 for Hertfordshire PCT. This was previously updated in a correction on 25 October 2011 in the report, excel and CSV tables. No other tables or PCTs were affected.

Summary

The information in this bulletin, about immunisation statistics in England, comes from:

1. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Health Protection Services (HPS) - for information on childhood immunisation coverage at ages 1, 2 and 5. It is collected through the Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly (COVER) data collection for PCTs.
2. The NHS Information Centre (The NHS IC) - for information about the BCG programme and reinforcing doses of diphtheria, tetanus and polio on the KC50 return from known providers of immunisation services.
3. The Department of Health - for information on persons aged 65 and over immunised against seasonal flu for all PCTs (in conjunction with Health Protection Agency).

Key facts

• Reported coverage figures for all routine childhood vaccinations reported through the Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly (COVER) programme in 2010-11 showed an increase at national level. Most regions also reported increases in coverage for routine childhood vaccinations. Although London reported increases, coverage figures for this Strategic Health Authority (SHA) remain lower than for other regions.
• For children reaching their second birthday, coverage of Diphtheria, Tetanus, Polio, Pertussis and Haemophilus influenzae type b (DTaP/IPV/Hib) in 2010-11 was 96.0 per cent, exceeding the World Health Organization target of 95 per cent coverage for the second successive year.
• After falling to a low of 79.9 per cent in 2003-04, figures reported by PCTs show that coverage of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine in England for children reaching their second birthday increased to 88.2 per cent in 2009-10 and to 89.1 per cent in 2010-11. However, despite the increases in recent years, coverage is still lower than in the mid 1990s, when over 90 per cent of children received the MMR vaccine, as well as lower than the World Health Organization target of more than 95 per cent coverage'.
• In 2010-11, 93.4 per cent of children in England were reported to have completed primary immunisation courses against Meningococcal group C (MenC) by their first birthday and 91.6 per cent of children in England had received the combined Haemophilus influenzae type b and Meningococcal group C (Hib/MenC) booster as measured at two years.
• Comparative data shows vaccination coverage in England to be below that in other UK countries.