Introduction
Childhood vaccination remains a primary mechanism for reducing the burden of infectious
disease. In the United Kingdom, as in many countries, a sustained effort is required to ensure
that vaccination targets are met to afford protection to the whole population from vaccine
preventable disease. The Celebrate and Protect programme is a collaborative partnership
developed to improve the uptake of childhood vaccination across a number of boroughs
within London through the use of a celebration card to encourage attendance for vaccination
and enhance relationships between general practices and the parents/carers of children.
Methods
This study was undertaken to assess the suitability, feasibility and acceptability of the
Celebrate and Protect programme across nine boroughs in London. Data were collected
either from telephone interviews (n=24) or from focus groups (n=31). A total of 55 key
informants were included in the study, representing strategic, commissioning or policy leads,
healthcare professionals and primary care teams delivering vaccinations and parents/carers
of children under five.
Results
The analysis of data identified that whilst parents/carers saw the celebration card positively
this raised the issue of ‘vaccine hesitancy’ and the lack of information that parents/carers
have to make informed decisions about vaccination. Similarly, healthcare professionals
viewed the programme positively and felt that it was deliverable within existing resources
although they raised wider questions about on-going sustainability and about quantitative
data collection. In relation to the collaboration between primary care and a pharmaceutical
company in developing the Celebrate and Protect programme, it was generally felt that,
provided appropriate governance is in place, it was a pragmatic approach in which the
benefits outweighed any perceived disadvantages.
Discussion
The Celebrate and Protect programme was seen as an innovative collaborative programme
to engage with parents and carers of children in order to improve relationships between
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service users and providers and subsequently increase vaccination uptake. The analysis
demonstrates that that the celebration card is suitable for its purpose, acceptable to both
healthcare professionals and to parents/carers of children and the Celebrate and Protect
programme has been able to deliver its aims.