About this website
This website has been developed and solely funded by NHS Health Scotland. It aims to equip the public with up-to-date information about immunisation in Scotland, including the vaccines available and diseases protected against.
Each individual vaccine page contains the answers to commonly asked questions about the vaccine and the disease or diseases it protects against. You can also search for vaccines by age group. As well as babies, children and teenagers, the website includes information about vaccines for young adults and older adults. The interactive immunisation schedule lets you see what vaccines your child needs as part of the Routine Childhood Immunisation Programme.
If you are a health professional, you can find Green Book and technical information about vaccines at the NHS Health Scotland website (external link).
The content of the Immunisation Scotland website has been adapted, with permission, from material originally published by the Department of Health. A Chief Medical Officer letter (PDF - 55.6 KB) was issued to announce the launch of the website.
The Immunisation Scotland website was assessed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and passed their 'credibility and content good information practices criteria'. It is included in the WHO's list of vaccine safety websites (external site).
Quick links:
Editorial group
The Immunisation Scotland website is managed by NHS Health Scotland. The information on the website is evidence-based, developed and approved by an editorial group consisting of immunisation specialists, who are listed below.
Scottish Government
Gareth Brown (Health Protection Team)
Rona Watters (Health Protection Team)
Health Protection Scotland
Dr Martin Donaghy (HPS Medical Director)
Dr Alex Sanchez-Vivar (Coordinator of Health Protection Network)
Dr Oliver Blatchford (Consultant Epidemiologist)
Dr Katy Sinka (Epidemiologist - Immunisation)
Dr Eisin McDonald (Epidemiologist)
Medical Research Council, CSO Social and Public Health Unit
Dr Shona Hilton (Senior Research Scientist)
NHS Boards
Fiona Bell (Senior nurse - NHS Tayside)
Fiona Rothwell (Health Visitor - NHS Lothian)
Abhayadevi Tissington (Senior Health Protection Nurse Specialist - NHS Highland)
Karen Gilchrist (Community Staff Nurse-NHS Lothian)
NHS Health Scotland
Kat Hasler (Screening and Immunisation Coordinator)
Ruth Peebles (Health Improvement Programme Officer for screening and Immunisation)
Much of the content on the site was initially developed by Health Protection Scotland and NHS Health Scotland to provide the public with up-to-date information on the MMR vaccine. The site then expanded to include general information adapted from the publications to cover all vaccines routinely available in Scotland. Information was also adapted from the Department of Health website (external site).
The draft content for the site was reviewed extensively by immunisation specialists in Scotland and the site was pre-tested with the target audience of the public and health professionals to ensure it was informative and easy to understand and navigate before it was approved. NHS Health Scotland web services update the site regularly with advice from members of the editorial group.
Useful contacts
Medical information
For advice and information on any health topic, you can email NHS 24 (external link) or call the NHS Helpline on 0800 22 44 88 (8am–10pm, 7 days).
Local contacts
Please speak to your GP or health visitor to get specific medical advice and information. You can also find help through your local health education/promotion unit which is listed under ‘Health’ in your phone book. Your public library is also an invaluable source of information.
Website queries
If you are having any difficulties using this website, or have any questions concerning it, please contact the webmaster at nhs.healthscotland-webmaster@nhs.net
Disclaimer
NHS Health Scotland websites are provided 'as is', without any representation or endorsement made and without warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy.
The information contained on NHS Health Scotland websites is provided as general information only and does not constitute advice to you.
We do not warrant that the functions within material contained in this website will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or represent the full functionality, accuracy or reliability of the materials. In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including, without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damages whatsoever arising from use or loss of use of, data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of NHS Health Scotland websites.
The Immunisation Scotland website is maintained for your personal use and viewing. Access and use by you of this site constitutes acceptance by you of these Terms and Conditions that take effect from the date of first use.
Privacy policy (information about your visit to our website)
NHS Health Scotland websites do not store any information that would, on its own, allow us to identify individual users of this service without their permission. Any cookies that may be used by NHS Health Scotland websites are used either solely on a per session basis or to maintain user preferences.
When users enter the Immunisation Scotland website their computers will automatically be issued with 'cookies'. Cookies are text files which identify users' computers to NHS Health Scotland's servers. The website then creates "session" cookies to store some of the preferences of users moving around the website, e.g. retaining a text-only preference. Cookies in themselves do not identify individual users, but identify only the computer used and they are deleted on departure from the website.
Many websites do this to track traffic flows, whenever users visit those websites. The Immunisation Scotland website uses third-party cookies to measure use of the website including number of visitors, how frequently pages are viewed, and the city and country of origin of users. This helps to determine what is popular and can influence future content and development.
For this purpose, NHS Health Scotland uses Google Analytics to measure and analyse usage of the website. The information collected will include IP Address, pages visited, browser type and operating system. The data will not be used to identify any user personally.
Users have the opportunity to set their computers to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these means that certain personalised services cannot then be provided to that user.
This privacy statement only covers the Immunisation Scotland website at www.immunisationscotland.org.uk. This statement does not cover links within this site to other websites.
Intellectual property
The names, images and logos identifying NHS Health Scotland are proprietary marks of NHS Health Scotland. Copying of our logos and/or any other third party logos accessed via this website is not permitted without prior approval from the relevant copyright owner.
Requests for permission to reproduce our logo should be directed to the Publishing Manager.
Publishing Manager
NHS Health Scotland
Woodburn House
Canaan Lane
Edinburgh
EH10 4SG
General enquiries:
Tel: 0131 536 5500
Fax: 0131 536 5501
Email: nhs.healthscotland-publishing@nhs.net
Hyperlinking policy
Hyperlinking to the Immunisation Scotland website
We are not responsible for the content or reliability of the linked websites. Listing should not be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over the availability of linked pages.
Computer virus protection
We make every effort to check and test material at all stages of production. It is always wise for you to run an anti-virus program on all material downloaded from the Internet. We cannot accept any responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or your computer system which may occur whilst using material derived from this website.