Immunisation Awareness Month

Posted on August 5th, 2026

August is Immunisation Awareness Month. Immunisation is the process of a vaccination protecting you from a disease. Vaccines help to protect yourself and your loved ones from many serious and potentially deadly diseases they also help by stopping diseases spreading to people who can not have vaccines, such as babies too young to be vaccinated and those who are to ill. During immunisation awareness month, check your immunisation status by reviewing your vaccination history to ensure you and your family are up to date. If you’re ever unsure your GP can help and if you or your children have missed a vaccine you can also speak to your GP.

Here is some key information about vaccines:

• Vaccines undergo rigorous safety testing before being introduced – they’re also constantly monitored for side effects after being introduce.
• Vaccines can sometimes cause mild side effects that will not last long – you may feel a bit unwell and have a sore arm for 2 or 3 days.
• Vaccines can reduce or even get rid of some diseases – if enough people are vaccinated.
• Vaccines do not overload or weaken the immune system – it’s safe to give children and adults several vaccines at a time and this reduces the number of injections needed.
• Vaccines do not cause autism – studies have found no evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
• Vaccination is the most important thing we can do to protect ourselves and our children against ill health. They prevent millions of deaths worldwide every year.
• Since vaccines were introduced in the UK, diseases like smallpox, polio and tetanus that used to kill or disable millions of people are either gone or are now very rarely seen.
• Vaccines teach your immune system how to create antibodies that protect you from diseases. It’s much safer for your immune system to learn this through vaccination than by catching the diseases and treating them. Once your immune system knows how to fight a disease, it can often give you lifelong protection.
• Having a vaccine also benefits your whole community. If enough people are vaccinated, it’s harder for the disease to spread to those people who cannot have vaccines.

#ImmunisationAwarenessMonth