Almost half of Irish parents are unsure of their child's vaccination history

According to a recent study conducted by GSK Ireland, Irish parents support the idea of vaccination, but admit they are ill-informed on some aspects of the process.

To coincide with World Immunisation Week, GSK surveyed over 400 parents who assert they are in agreement with immunisation, but struggle at times when it comes to the details of their children’s vaccinations.

Just 44% of those who took part in the research knew which diseases their child had been vaccinated against, while 99% acknowledged that they tend to vaccinate their child if it is recommended to them by a healthcare practitioner.

In addition to seeking guidance from medical professionals, those surveyed credited parenting websites, family and schools for offering advice on the matter.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Martijn Akveld, the Director of Medical Affairs, GSK Ireland, commended those involved, saying: “These survey results are very reassuring and demonstrate a real commitment of people in Ireland to effective vaccination.”

However, despite asserting that they consider vaccinations an important part of a child’s medical history, many parents admit to being unsure about certain vaccines and the diseases they prevent against.

31% of those surveyed were under the assumption that Meningitis B was covered by the national immunisation programme while another 60% were unaware that Hepatitis B and tetanus were included in the programme.

With two to three million deaths being prevented each year through immunisation, half of the parents surveyed admitting that they were very concerned that their child may contract a vaccine-preventable disease.

Explaining the importance of World Immunisation Week, Martijn asserted: “World Immunisation Week is an excellent platform to raise awareness of the importance of vaccinations to our health system and the lives it has no doubt saved."

Reminding the public of the positive effect immunisation has had worldwide, Martijn said: "Vaccination has successfully practically eradicated many serious infectious diseases so that perhaps sometimes we forget the impact these have."