Flu Nasal Spray Vaccinations
Vaccination UK, who are commissioned by the NHS to provide child immunisations within schools, will be attending our school to deliver the Flu Nasal Spray’s or IM alternative (porcine free injection) on 3rd December 2024.
Vaccination UK are obliged to offer 100% of the eligible school aged population from Reception – Year 11 a flu vaccination. This year, the window of time that we can deliver the flu vaccination programme has been significantly limited. In previous years, we could vaccinate from October until the middle of February. However, this year, NHS England have put a ‘hard stop’ on the end date for offering the flu vaccine of December 13th, in order to ensure that children are vaccinated by Christmas and the chance of flu circulating in the community is reduced.
Any child aged 12 and above that does not return a consent form prior to a school vaccination session must be seen on the day by our clinical team so that they can assess them for Gillick Competency (self-consent). Nurses will attempt to contact parents on the day of the session where possible, contacting parents directly is always the preferred option in the first instance, should this not be successful, we will assess for Gillick Competency.
This process is fully endorsed by NHS England. Any child that wishes to receive the flu vaccine is first made aware of the benefits and possible side effects, and is assessed as competent, or not competent by our nurses. A link to further information on Gillick is below:
Consent to treatment – Children and young people – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
It is really important that Vaccination UK receive a consent form back for every child, even if you do NOT wish for your child to receive the immunisation, there is an option to decline. Failure to complete a consent form, may result in your child missing their flu immunisation this year. We cannot guarantee that you will be contacted by our team to obtain consent. Please complete the below link to state whether you wish to consent or decline.
https://midlands.schoolvaccination.uk/flu/2024/worcestershire
Please see the attached cover letter which also contains the link and some very useful information
It is important that all consents are completed no later than 1 week prior to the school session, links will not be accessible after this time. Clinics are available for children who miss the immunisation at school, please contact the Vaccination team on 01527 390030 to find out more.
*If you have submitted a consent form but take your child to an alternative location to have the flu immunisation, it is YOUR responsibility to let the Vaccination Team know, please contact them directly and immediately as they DO NOT get notified automatically.
If you do have issues with the E-consent link, please contact Vaccination UK on 01527 390030 or you can request paper consent forms via the below email address.
For any other information, please contact them on 01527 390030 or via email on Worcestershire@v-uk.co.uk