Immunisation, adult
Vaccination
Vaccines for adults
There are no vaccinations that are routinely offered on the NHS to all adults. However, there are several vaccinations that are available on the NHS to adults in certain ‘at risk’ groups. These are:
Seasonal flu vaccine
Protects against: seasonal flu.
Who needs it:
- all people aged 65 years and over
- all those with a long-term health condition
- healthcare workers
- all pregnant women who haven't already had the swine flu vaccine
Given: every year starting in October/November.
More on the flu jab
Pneumococcal vaccine (PPV)
Protects against: some types of pneumococcal infection.
Who needs it:
- people aged 65 and over
- people with a long-term health condition
Given at: any time (one injection)
More on the pneumococcal jab
Varicella (chickenpox) vaccine
Protects against: chickenpox.
Who needs it:
- healthcare workers who aren't immune
- laboratory staff who could be exposed to varicella
- healthy susceptible contacts of immunocompromised patients
Given at: any age (two doses given 4 to 8 weeks apart).
More on the varicella vaccine
Hepatitis B (hep B) vaccine
Protects against: hepatitis B.
Who needs it:
- injecting drug users (including their partners and children and other people living with them)
- people who change sexual partners frequently (including men who have sex with men, and male and female sex workers)
- close family contacts of someone with a chronic hepatitis B infection
- individuals receiving regular blood products, and their carers
- people who have chronic kidney failure
- people who have chronic liver disease
- inmates of custodial institutions and some prison service staff
- people who live in residential accommodation for those with learning difficulties
- families that foster or adopt children who may have been at increased risk of hepatitis B infection
- people travelling to, or going to live in, areas where there's a high or intermediate incidence of hepatitis B
- individuals at occupational risk, such as healthcare workers, laboratory staff and staff of residential and other accommodation for those with learning difficulties, morticians and embalmers, and some emergency services personnel
Given at: any age where needed.
More on the hep B vaccine
BCG
Protects against: tuberculosis (TB).
Who needs it:
- people at occupational risk, such as healthcare workers, some laboratory staff, people who handle animal species that are susceptible to TB, some prison staff, those working in homes for older people, staff of hostels for homeless people and facilities for refugees and asylum seekers
- previously unvaccinated tuberculin-negative contacts of cases of respiratory TB
Given at: any age.
More about the BCG jab
Swine flu
Protects against:swine flu.
On 10 August 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the H1N1 influenza (swine flu) pandemic was officially over.
However, the H1N1 flu virus will be one of the main viruses circulating this winter. Therefore, the H1N1 flu virus will be included in the 2010-11 seasonal flu vaccine and won't be offered as a separate jab.
More on swine flu vaccine
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When should it be done?
Vaccination checklist
Here's a checklist of the vaccines that are routinely offered to everyone in the UK for free on the NHS, and the age at which you should ideally have them.
2 months:
- Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib, a bacterial infection that can cause severe pneumonia or meningitis in young children) given as a 5-in-1 single jab known as DTaP/IPV/Hib
- Pneumococcal infection
3 months:
- 5-in-1, second dose (DTaP/IPV/Hib)
- Meningitis C
4 months:
- 5-in-1, third dose (DTaP/IPV/Hib)
- Pneumococcal infection, second dose
- Meningitis C, second dose
Between 12 and 13 months:
- Meningitis C, third dose
- Hib, fourth dose (Hib/MenC given as a single jab)
- MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), given as a single jab
- Pneumococcal infection, third dose
3 years and 4 months, or soon after:
- MMR second jab
- Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio (DtaP/IPV), given as a 4-in-1 pre-school booster
Around 12-13 years:
- Cervical cancer (HPV) vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer (girls only): three jabs given within six months
Around 13-18 years:
- Diphtheria, tetanus and polio booster (Td/IPV), given as a single jab
65 and over:
- Flu (every year)
- Pneumococcal
Vaccines for risk groups
People who fall into certain risk groups may be offered extra vaccines. These include vaccinations against diseases such as hepatitis B, tuberculosis (TB), seasonal flu and chickenpox.
Travel and other vaccines
There are also optional vaccines that you may be able to have free on the NHS from your local surgery, including travel vaccinations, such as hepatitis A, typhoid and cholera. See our sections on travel vaccines to find out more about whether you should have one.
If you’re not sure whether you or your child have had all your vaccinations, ask your GP or practice nurse.
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Safety and regulation
Vaccination safety
As with all new medicines, all vaccines are extensively tested for safety before they're made routinely available to the general public.
Safety monitoring continues even after a vaccine has been made available. That's because not all side effects are always noticed during the vaccine's development, especially if they're very rare side effects. All vaccines in general use are continually and carefully monitored to identify such side effects.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for checking the safety of medicines (including vaccines) that have been made available to the public. The MHRA collects important information on vaccine safety via the Yellow Card Scheme, whereby anyone can report a suspected side effect to the MHRA. As well as the Yellow Card Scheme, the MHRA uses a variety of other sources of safety information, including medical literature, safety studies done by vaccine makers, databases that track trends in illnesses, and other worldwide organisations.
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Side effects
Weighing up the risks
All medicines have side effects, but vaccines are among the safest. The benefits of vaccinations far outweigh the risk of side effects.
When we’re considering a vaccination for ourselves or our children, it's natural to think about the potential side effects of that vaccination. But you have to balance the risk against the benefits.
So, what are the side effects of vaccination?
Most side effects from vaccination are mild. It's quite usual for people to have redness or swelling in the where they had the injection, but this soon goes away. Younger children or babies may be a bit irritable or unwell or have a slight temperature. Again, this goes away within one or two days.
In much rarer cases, some people have an allergic reaction soon after a vaccination. This is usually a rash or itching that affects part or all of the body. The GP or nurse giving the vaccine are trained to treat this.
On very rare occasions, a severe allergic reaction may happen within a few minutes of the vaccination. This is called an anaphylactic reaction. It can lead to breathing difficulties and, in some cases, collapse.
Remember that anaphylactic reactions are extremely rare (less than one in a million). Vaccination staff are trained to deal with these reactions, and they're completely reversible if treated promptly.
What to do about side effects
If you, a doctor, nurse or pharmacist suspects that you or your child has had a possible side effect (also called an adverse reaction) to a vaccine, then it can be reported through the Yellow Card Scheme.
The Yellow Card Scheme is run by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and is designed to pick up unexpected problems or new side effects. If a serious new side effect is identified, the MHRA will follow up the report. It may change the way a vaccine is used, or even take it off the market.
The scheme isn’t just for health professionals. The general public can also use the Yellow Card system to report a suspected side effect of a vaccine or medicine.
It's often hard to tell whether a possible side effect is due to a vaccine or something else. If you're in any doubt, it’s a good idea to alert the MHRA by sending a Yellow Card report.
Tell your doctor, nurse or pharmacist about the suspected side effect, and they'll report it for you. Or report it yourself in one of these ways:
- Use the Yellow Card Scheme online reporting system.
- Pick up a Yellow Card form from your GP surgery or your local pharmacy. Complete the form and send it to the address given on the form.
- Call the Yellow Card freephone hotline on 0808 100 3352 (weekdays 10am to 2pm).
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Q&A
Vaccination and pregnancy
Can I have vaccinations if I’m pregnant?
Whether you should have vaccinations during pregnancy depends on the type of vaccination. If you’re pregnant, any vaccinations you need will probably be delayed until after your baby is born. However, vaccination may be recommended in some circumstances.
Your GP or midwife can give you advice about vaccinations during pregnancy.
Seasonal flu vaccine
Some pregnant women should have the seasonal flu vaccination. For 2010–11, the seasonal flu vaccination is recommended for:
- pregnant women in at-risk groups (groups of people at risk of serious illness or complications from flu)
- pregnant women not in at-risk groups unless they have previously been vaccinated against H1N1 flu (swine flu)
Previously, only pregnant women in at-risk groups were offered the seasonal flu vaccine.
Tetanus vaccine
Tetanus vaccination is safe during pregnancy.
A tetanus jab (vaccine) may be recommended if you have an injury that breaks your skin and your tetanus vaccinations aren’t up to date.
Live vaccines
Some vaccinations, such as rubella and MMR, use live vaccines. These are usually avoided during pregnancy because of concern that, in theory, the vaccine could pass to and infect the unborn baby. However, there is no evidence that any live vaccine causes birth defects.
Inactive vaccines
Other vaccinations, such as the tetanus jab, use inactive vaccines. Inactive vaccines cannot cause infection in the unborn baby. Vaccination may be recommended if you need to be protected against a condition such as tetanus without delay.
Travel vaccinations
For information about travel vaccines, see Travel Vaccinations
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