North East Lincolnshire has been selected for the pilot that aims to reach families facing barriers to vaccines
Members of North East Lincolnshire Council’s Health Visiting and Public Health Nursing Team, pictured outside New Oxford House in Grimsby(Image: North East Lincolnshire Council)
North East Lincolnshire has been chosen to be part of a pilot to trial delivering vaccinations to children in their own homes. Health visitors and public health nurses working for the council will be involved in the NHS scheme.
North East Lincolnshire Council is one of just four local authorities across the Yorkshire and Humber region that has been chosen to participate in the pilot. The programme will allow families facing obstacles to vaccines to be reached, ensuring that more children are safeguarded from harmful viruses.
Over the coming weeks, the NHS will identify families in areas where vaccination uptake is low. Health visitors and public health nurses will then contact those families to explore reasons for not accepting the vaccination.
Councillor Stan Shreeve, deputy leader and portfolio holder for health, wellbeing and adult social care at North East Lincolnshire Council, said the programme represented an excellent opportunity. “It’s fantastic for our health visitors and public health nurses to be a part of this Government-funded programme”, he said.
“We all want to keep our children safe from harm, and we know that vaccinations offer protection from some really quite awful conditions.
“Things like meningitis, pneumonia, whooping cough (pertussis) and polio shouldn’t really exist in this day and age, but sadly they still to this day claim lives, so it’s important that we get children vaccinated.
“Unfortunately many families face barriers to accessing vaccinations. These may include travel costs, language difficulties, and vaccine hesitancy.
“Vaccines are a choice, and as part of this programme, we want to try to understand why some families decide not to take-up the vaccination offer, and how some of these barriers can be overcome.
“I’m hopeful that, through this pilot, more families in North East Lincolnshire are able to take-up the offer of vaccinations for their children, offering long-term protection.”
The initiative will launch in the coming weeks, with public health nurses and health visitors reaching out to families who have been identified by the NHS. The pilot scheme will provide vaccinations during standard health visits for children aged 0 to 5 years.
Families should continue to receive vaccinations at their local surgery first. The pilot scheme is aimed at those families whose children are considerably behind in receiving their routine vaccinations through a GP.
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