early years alliance - Campaign

Supporting parents and carers to get children vaccinated against MMR

caroline.graham — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 18:50:06 +0000

The NHS has launched a campaign to try and boost take-up of the MMR vaccine which is at its lowest rate for a decade.

The jab protects children from contracting measles, mumps and rubella and is offered in two doses by their registered GP surgery — the first when they turn one and the second at around three years and four months, before they start nursery or school.

However currently only 85.5% of five year olds have had both doses and the health service wants to increase that rate to 95%.

It is hoped the campaign will raise awareness of the MMR vaccine amongst parents and carers to help drive uptake of both doses in eligible children aged one-five years, and to encourage those that may have missed their appointments during the pandemic to come forward.

Highlighting the risks

Measles is highly contagious with 90 per cent of children contracting it if they are exposed but not vaccinated.

And it can make them extremely ill and lead to complications such as brain inflammation, pneumonia and in rare cases, death.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the NHS are therefore calling on parents and guardians to ensure their children are up to date with the MMR vaccine, and all other routine childhood immunisations.

Reaching out to parents and carers

Early years providers are seen as having a role to play too — encouraging take-up of the vaccine by offering information and support to parents who may not be aware of the vaccine, may have forgotten to book appointments or who may be unsure about whether to get their child vaccinated.

New research commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and UKHSA, shows that many parents are not aware of the risks measles poses to their unvaccinated children.

Out of 2,000 parents and guardians of children aged 5 and under:

almost half (48%) are not aware that measles can lead to serious complications such as pneumonia and brain inflammation
only 4 in 10 (38%) are aware measles can be fatal
more than half of parents (56%) are not aware that 2 doses of the MMR vaccine gives 99% protection against measles and rubella.

Improving parent/carer confidence

By highlighting the risks of measles, mumps and rubella, it is hoped that parents will see getting their children vaccinated is the right thing to do.

Health agencies hope the campaign will provide an additional prompt to parents who have forgotten that this is something that they need to do (without guilting them).

�� can talk to parents about the vaccine and then ask them to contact their GP to make an appointment if they think their child is missing one or both doses.

Or, if a parent is unsure, providers can offer more information by providing leaflets and pointing them to the NHS website.

There are links to leaflets and posters that can be downloaded and used in your setting below.

Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and medical director for primary care at NHS England, said: "It is incredibly important that all parents and guardians ensure their child is up to date with their routine vaccinations, including MMR, as these vaccines give children crucial protection against serious and potentially deadly illnesses and stop outbreaks in the community."

Useful campaign resources:

Download an MMR leaflet to share with parents (or share this link with them)

Download MMR leaflets in various languages from here

Download A3 MMR info poster to display in your setting

Download A4 MMR info poster to display in your setting

Campaign

It's Childcare and Early Education Week. Here's how to get involved...

caroline.graham — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 20:58:15 +0000

This week is Childcare and Early Education Week (25-29 January 2021).

The aim of the week is to raise awareness of the early education sector amongst MPs, Peers, decision-makers and influencers – particularly with regard to private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers, who make up the majority of the sector – and to build strong relationships between practitioners and their local MP.

It will also celebrate the hard work and dedication of early education professionals, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the sector has played an integral part in making up for learning time lost during 2020 and provided an essential service for our keyworkers by remaining open and allowing them to keep the country running.

Childcare and Early Education Week is run and organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Childcare and Early Education.

The APPG exists to support and promote the the childcare and early education sector.

As this has been a particularly difficult year for practitioners the APPG wanted to create an opportunity to celebrate you and all of the great work that you do for children and families across the country.

How to support and get involved in Childcare and Early Education Week

1. Parent survey - The APPG has launched a survey of parents this week, to gain data and insights into parents’ perspectives on early education and to demonstrate to MPs the importance of the early years sector. Please share the survey with the parents and carers of the children you look after and if you are a parent of pre-schoolers yourself you can also fill out the survey yourself.

Take the survey

2. Social media - You can also support the campaign via social media. Tweet using the hashtags #ChildcareandEarlyEducationWeek and #CelebratingOurSector to promote what you are celebrating about the early education sector during Childcare and Early Education Week.

3. Write to your MP - We are encouraging early years practitioners across the sector to write to their local MP to invite them for a virtual meeting or visit (*as appropriate under local COVID-19 regulations), as part of the campaign.

This will provide an opportunity for you to brief them on the challenges your setting faces, and the policy changes needed to protect the sector at this critical time, so that they can articulate these in Parliament and to the Government.

You can get further support in writing to your MP, including a template letter, by downloading the Childcare and Early Education Week toolkit for practitioners.

The APPG is also distributing a separate briefing pack on the campaign to MPs directly, but we need you to demonstrate to them how and why this vital issue is affecting their constituents.

For more details about Childcare and Early Education Week and how you can support the campaign, please download the toolkit for practitioners.

Thank you for your support.

The APPG for Childcare and Early Education works with the childcare sector to support and promote non-maintained private, voluntary and independent (PVI) settings, in appreciation and acknowledgement of the value of highquality early education in helping every child to have the best possible start in life.

It was established in 2017 and is chaired by Steve Brine, MP for Winchester and Chandler’s Ford.

The APPG is sponsored by: CACHE, the ��, the Foundation Stage Forum, the National Day Nurseries Association and Tops Day Nurseries

Campaign