How do the vaccines work?

Vaccines work by stimulating our own body’s immune system to produce substances (antibodies) in the body to fight disease, without us actually becoming infected with the disease. These antibodies help the body to recognise and kill any ‘foreign’ organisms immediately and then remain in the body to help protect the body against future infections with the same organism.

If a vaccinated person then comes into contact with the disease itself, their own immune system will recognise it and immediately produce the antibodies needed to fight it and prevent the disease taking hold.

There are a number of vaccines that protect against many viral and bacterial forms of meningitis and septicaemia. Preventative vaccines that are currently on the national childhood immunisation programme include:

Preventative vaccines that are currently on the national childhood immunisation programme include:

• Pneumococcal (PCV13) vaccination (protects against invasive disease, pneumonia and acute otitis media caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae)
• MMR vaccination (protects against measles, mumps and rubella)
• MenC vaccination (protects against meningococcal group C meningitis)
• DTaP/IPV/Hib vaccination (protects against five different diseases - Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (or whooping cough), polio (with Inactivated Polio Vaccine) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib))

The pneumococcal (PCV13) vaccination available to all children under the age of two as part of the UK national childhood immunisation schedule is a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine that protects against 13 strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae or pneumococcal bacteria.

These bacteria are responsible for causing diseases such as meningitis and septicaemia, pneumonia as well as pneumococcal ear infection (otitis media). Children in the UK are among the first worldwide to benefit from the broadest coverage pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

The vaccination encourages your child’s body to produce antibodies against pneumococcal bacteria. Antibodies are proteins that help protect your child by neutralising or destroying disease-carrying organisms and toxins.

When should your child be vaccinated?

The PCV13 vaccine is available to all children under two years of age, as part of the national childhood vaccination programme.

This consists of two doses with an interval of two months between each dose. The recommended age for the first dose is between two and four months with the second being two months later. A reinforcing (booster) dose of the vaccine is recommended at between 12 and 13 months of age (i.e. within a month of the first birthday).

It is very important that your child completes the course as the third dose or booster helps increase the immune response.

The vaccine is injected into your child’s arm or leg muscle by your doctor or nurse and can be given at the same time as other childhood vaccines.

Click here to view our interactive wheel, which shows you how and when children of certain ages should be vaccinated.

Do vaccines have any side-effects?

Before any vaccine is given, please inform your doctor or nurse if your child has had any previous bad reactions to any vaccination in the past.

Like all medicines, vaccines can cause side-effects, although not everybody gets them. If your child does develop any unusual symptoms, after having had the vaccination, you should contact your doctor or call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47.

If you have any questions or need more information about vaccines and vaccination, please consult your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.