By stewartb

My suspicion – because I’ve never come across anything about whooping cough in the mainstream media that supposedly ‘serves’ Scotland – is that there may well be a favourable story on Scotland’s health services somewhere in the above from Sky News today and indeed there is!

From Public Health Scotland on 26 March 2024 (‘Childhood immunisation statistics Scotland – Quarter and year ending 31 December 2023’) , we learn that the vaccination for pertussis, or whooping cough since October 2017, has been ‘part of the combined 6-in-1 vaccine, consisting of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib and Hepatitis B. A booster dose is also given to children at around 3 years 4 months of age.’

Here are the 2023 take-up rates for the combined 6-in-1 vaccine in Scotland (https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/26192/2024-03-26-childhood-immunisation-report.pdf) :

• ‘In 2023, uptake by 12 months of age of the complete 3 dose course of the 6-in-1 vaccine was 95.0%, down from 95.7% in 2022 and 96.4% in 2021. However, uptake rates have remained at or above 95% throughout the last decade.’
  • ‘Uptake ranged from 93.0% in the most deprived areas (SIMD quintile 1) to 97.4% in the least deprived areas (SIMD quintile 5), a difference in uptake of 4.4 percentage points.’
• ‘Uptake by 24 months in 2023 was 96.2% ..’.

‘Protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio can wane over time. …  From the age of 3 years 4 months, children should be invited to receive booster doses of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio (given as a single injection, the 4-in-1 booster vaccine) and a second dose of MMR vaccine.’

• ‘Uptake rates of both vaccines remained above 90% between 2012 and 2022. From a high in 2014 (4-in-1, 94.2%; MMR second dose, 93.4%), there were slight decreases in uptake each year until 2019 when rates increased slightly. In the latest year, uptake was 89.6% for the 4-in-1 vaccine and 89.1% for the second dose of MMR (Figure 5), where uptake fell below 90% for the first time since 2011.’

Rates of uptake for all childhood vaccinations across the UK are available for comparison: see the table given in NHS England (28 September, 2023) Childhood Vaccination Coverage Statistics, England, 2022-23 (see https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/england-2022-23/6in-1-vaccine ).

Inspection of the table will show that on every metric (bar two) Scotland has the highest percentage take-up rates of the UK countries. (Scotland’s rate is slightly lower than Wales on 12 month coverage for PVC (Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine) and equal to Wales on coverage at 5 years for first MMR1 dose.) 

Specifically on the 6-in-1 vaccine relevant to preventing whooping cough, the figure for Scotland is 94.5% and for England 91.8%. The figure for the most derived areas of Scotland was 93%. At 24 months the uptake of the same vaccine in Scotland was 96.5% and in England 92.6.

Reflections? Firstly, there is no room for complacency in Scotland on the subject of vaccine take-up.. Secondly, once again the available facts about Scotland’s health services run counter to the gaslighting of Scotland’s electorate perpetrated by Unionist politicians and their mainstream media allies.