Vaccinations Among Adults

This topic area covers statistics and information relating to uptake of vaccinations among adults in Hull including local strategic need and service provision. Further information relating to Screening and Vaccinations Among Children and Young People is available within Health Factors within Children and Young People. There is a separate section for Screening and the NHS Health Checks under Prevention under Adults.

More recently, the vaccine for COVID-19 has been rolled out to those aged 12+ years (and those aged 5-11 years), and further information can be found on the official UK Government website https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ (once Vaccinations has been selected it is possible to change Area Type to Local Authorities and then select Kingston Upon Hull for the Area Name). The percentage uptake is based on the population registered with local GPs who live in Hull (which might be an overestimate) so it is likely that the actual percentage coverage within Hull’s population could be slightly higher than the percentage quoted. Further information relating to COVID-19 including uptake rates for the COVID-19 vaccination can be found within Coronavirus (COVID-19) within Health Factors under Adults.

This page contains information from the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips. Information is taken ‘live’ from the site so uses the latest available data from Fingertips and displays it on this page. As a result, some comments on this page may relate to an earlier period of time until this page is next updated (see review dates at the end of this page).

Headlines

• There are a large number of vaccinations available to infants and children. However, there are a small number of vaccinations that are offered to children and adults who are at risk owing to their personal circumstances, and other vaccinations are available to older people.
• The uptake rate for the influenza vaccine has been steadily falling in Hull since 2010/11. In 2019/20, the uptake rate in Hull reached a new low (41.3% for at risk groups and 69.7% for people aged 65+ years). However, following the COVID-19 pandemic and more awareness and focus on the importance of having the influenza vaccine, rates increased sharply to 51.1% for at risk groups and 80.5% for those aged 65+ years, although the rate is lower than England (52.9% and 82.3% respectively).
• The uptake for the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) among those aged 65+ years was slightly lower in Hull compared to England (69.7% versus 70.6%) for 2020/21. The rate has been steadily decreasing in Hull, although increased slightly between 2019/20 and 2020/21 possibly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Fewer people aged 71 years in Hull in 2019/20 had had their shingles vaccination compared to England (47.0% versus 48.2%) although rates were higher in Hull than 2018/19 (44.9%).
• The uptake rates for 2020/21 have been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic particularly those for influenza. Furthermore, the flu vaccination programme was extended for 2021/22. People aged 50+ years (including those who will be 50 by the 31 March 2022) were eligible for the flu vaccination as well as specific ‘at risk’ groups including pregnant women. Carers and people who live with ‘at risk’ individuals were also eligible for the flu vaccination.

The Population Affected – Why Is It Important?

Specific vaccines are offered to children, young people, pregnant women, older people and other people with specific long-term health conditions. All children are offered vaccines against key diseases to prevent them getting serious diseases that can kill or cause long-term health consequences. A small number of vaccines are just offered to a selected group of children and adults who are at risk owing to their personal circumstances. Older people and other at risk groups are offered the seasonal influenza vaccination to reduce the likelihood of influenza. The pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) is also available to people aged 65+ years and at risk groups which protects against pneumococcal infections (protecting against 23 types of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium).

The ‘at risk’ groups differ depending on the disease but for the influenza vaccination the at risk group are people aged 6 months and older with chronic respiratory, heart or kidney diseases, chronic neurological conditions, diabetes, and people with a weaken immune system as a result of HIV and AIDs, or medicines such as chemotherapy, or who are seriously overweight with a body mass index of 40 or more. The flu vaccine is also available to pregnant women, and can also include other groups such as people living in long-stay residential or care homes, and those who receive carer’s allowance. Front line health and social care workers are also eligible for the influenza vaccination. It is anticipated that more people are likely to get flu in the winter of 2021/22 as fewer people will have built up natural immunity to it during the COVID-19 pandemic due to increased social distancing. The flu programme was extended in 2021/22 to include those aged 50+ years.

There is also a vaccine for shingles offered to people aged 70 years or older. Anyone previously eligible who has missed out on their vaccination remains eligible until their 80th birthday.

There are also some other vaccinations that are offered to a small number of individuals based on their circumstances. These include the BCG vaccine (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) to protect against tuberculosis, and vaccinations for hepatitis B and chickenpox.

For certain vaccinations, generally only one dose is required (such as for shingles and the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine) and for others the vaccination is required every year (such as for influenza). The majority of the vaccinations given in childhood require one or a small number of doses over time and last a long time or a lifetime, although boosters are sometimes given such as a tetanus vaccination following an injury which could result in an infection, or the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine which may be required every five years for some people with specific health conditions.

Where sufficient numbers of people have the vaccine, it can also prevent the disease spreading in the community, and sometimes even getting rid of diseases in the community entirely. This is important for the small number of people who cannot have a vaccine for other health reasons.

It is estimated that vaccines prevent up to three million deaths worldwide very year. Since vaccines were introduced to the UK, diseases like smallpox, polio and tetanus that used to kill or disable millions of people are either gone or seen very rarely. Other diseases like measles and diphtheria have been reduced by up to 99.9% since their vaccines were introduced.

Vaccination and immunisation are often used interchangeable, but are different. Vaccination is the process of introducing the vaccination and immunisation is what is achieved.

The Hull Picture

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips provide information on the uptake rates for vaccinations for adults.

For 2021/22, the uptake rate for the flu vaccination was lower in Hull compared to England among at risk groups (51.1% versus 52.9%) and among those aged 65+ years (80.8% versus 82.3%).

The uptake rate was among the lowest across the Yorkshire and Humber region for at risk groups for 2021/22.

The vaccination uptake rate for Hull was lowest across the region for those aged 65+ years for 2021/22.

The percentage uptake of the flu vaccination among people at risk was around 50% between 2010/11 and 2014/15, but fell sharply to 43% in 2015/16, and whilst the rate increased to 47% in 2017/18, the rate has fallen again to 41% in 2019/20 to the lowest rate since 2010/11. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been more focus and a national and local push around people having their flu vaccination, and the rate has increased to the highest it has been for the last decade.

Almost three-quarters of people aged 65+ years had their flu vaccination in 2011/12, but the rate has fallen since then. For three of the last four years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate has been just under 70% with the rate in 2019/20 the lowest it has been since 2010/11. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate has increased sharply to over eight in ten people in 2021/22 as there has been a greater emphasis for people to get their COVID-19 and flu vaccinations.

The pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) uptake in Hull was slightly lower than the uptake in England for 2020/21.

There has been a steady decline in the uptake in Hull of the PPV vaccine among those aged 65+ years falling from 75% in 2010/11 to 69% in 2019/20. In contrast, the uptake rate across the region has remained relatively unchanged and whilst there has been a reduction in England, the rate has fallen by 1.5 percentage points (compared to 5.7 percentage points in Hull). The uptake rate in Hull for 2019/20 is the lowest it has been since 2010/11.

There has been an increase between 2019/20 and 2020/21 which may be associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, although the increase is relatively small and does not offset the decreases very much that have occurred over the period 2010/11 to 2019/20.

In the first five years of the shingles vaccination programme (2013/14 to 2017/18), the vaccine was routinely offered to adults aged 70 years on the 1 September to adults aged 78 years on 1 September as part of the catch-up campaign. For all subsequent years up to 2017, the routine cohort was those aged 70 on 1 September. People who were aged 71 to 78 on 1 September 2013 are being offered the shingles vaccination through a phased catch-up programme conducted over a number of years.

In April 2017, eligibility criteria for the shingles vaccination were revised so that adults become eligible for the routine programme on their 70th birthday and remain eligible until their 80th birthday. This has meant that the way in which the uptake rate is calculated has had to be changed, and the current uptake rate cannot be compared with the previous uptake rate. The uptake rate is measured in on the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips as the percentage of adults turning 71 between 1 April and 31 March who have received the shingles vaccination by the end of the following June.

During 2019/20, the uptake rate for the shingles vaccination in Hull was lower than England and the region.

Overall, 2,498 people who had their 71st birthday between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020, 1,174 (47%) had received their shingles vaccination by June 2020. There has been an improvement in the uptake rate from 44.9% in 2018/19 to 47.0% in 2019/20 in Hull.

Strategic Need and Service Provision

If people stop having vaccines, it is possible for infectious diseases to quickly spread again. For the influenza vaccine, different strains of the disease means that the vaccine might not totally protect an individual although it is likely that the severity of infection is reduced even if it does not prevent influenza, but at a population level the number of cases of the disease are reduced provided the uptake of the vaccine is sufficiently high.

Therefore, it is important to ensure a high uptake for vaccines and thus immunisation, and in the case of the influenza vaccine that people more at risk including those aged 65+ years have the vaccine every year. This is particularly the case for the winter of 2021/22 with COVID-19 circulating. For 2021/22, the influenza vaccine coverage was extended to include Year 7 children (first year of secondary school), people living in a household which includes a vulnerable person and people aged 50+ years, although the priority is initially the most vulnerable groups (those aged 65+ years and those with a pre-existing medical condition).

It is best that a number of different strategies and approaches are used across different settings to maximise uptake for vaccines among people at high risk and among those aged 65+ years.

Resources

NHS Choices: www.nhs.uk

Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/

The official UK government website for data and insight on coronavirus (COVID-19). https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk

Updates

This page was last updated / checked on 18 November 2022.

This page is due to be updated / checked in February 2023.