Vaccinations are one of the most effective public health measures - protecting children and communities from preventable diseases. Health visitors and their teams play a crucial role in supporting uptake through trusted relationships, clear information, and early, proactive engagement with families.
Our vaccination resource section provides links to a variety of resources and information for HVs, many of which are useful for parents and carers too.
iHV Resources
📃 Good Practice Points and Parent Tips
Developed in collaboration with topic experts, health visitors, and other professionals, our resources draw on the latest available evidence at the time of publication. Each resource is produced through a robust quality assurance process and peer reviewed to ensure accuracy, relevance, and strong alignment with health visiting practice.
External Resources
England
NHS vaccination strategy is for people and organisations involved in the commissioning, planning and delivery of NHS vaccination services in England. Its aim is to protect communities and save lives and to shape the future delivery of NHS vaccination and immunisation services.
Childhood vaccinations in England are managed the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Scotland
Childhood vaccinations in Scotland are managed by Public Health Scotland.
NHS inform provides information about vaccines for all age groups for people in Scotland.
Wales
Childhood vaccinations in Wales are managed by Public Health Wales.
Northern Ireland
Childhood vaccinations in Northern Ireland are managed by HSC Public Health Agency.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
The UK Health Security Agency Immunisation page provides lots of immunisation information for professionals and the public. The UKHSA resources, which can all be accessed from this webpage, include:
Immunisation against infectious disease – (also known as ‘The Green Book’) is the principal source of immunisation information and explains current vaccination policy, schedules and procedures, both generally and specific to each vaccine-preventable disease.
Immunisation schedules: routine childhood and across the life course, including additional vaccines for clinical risk groups.
Vaccination of individuals with uncertain or incomplete immunisation is a tool to aid vaccination scheduling for individuals who have moved to the UK or who have missed vaccinations for which they are now overdue.
- The National Minimum Standards and core curriculum for all healthcare practitioners with a role in immunisation
- Training slide sets for new or revised vaccination programmes (available in the “Vaccine programmes” section Immunisation – GOV.UK)
- Training slide sets about vaccination in pregnancy for healthcare workers providing or advising on immunisation of pregnant women
Information about the individual vaccine programmes is available in the “Vaccine programmes” section on Immunisation – GOV.UK. The following may be of particular use for HVs:
- Hepatitis B: antenatal screening and selective neonatal immunisation pathway
- Rotavirus vaccine and SCID newborn screening evaluation
- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programme
- Changes to the routine childhood schedule 1 July 2025 and 1 January 2026
- ‘Information for Healthcare Practitioners’ guidance documents provide additional information for those delivering the vaccination programmes.
A wide range of vaccine health publications (vaccine leaflets, posters, and other resources) are free to download or order (in bulk from an NHS email account).
These are produced in a large and increasing range of different languages and formats and a number of digital assets are also available.
Practical information about vaccine storage and handling including:
Legal mechanisms for the administration of vaccines: Immunisation patient group direction (PGD) templates
Statements and meeting minutes for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert scientific advisory committee which advises the UK government on vaccination and immunisation.
Attitudes to vaccination: national surveys which report the results of surveys of parents’ and young peoples’ attitudes to vaccines
Vaccine Update, a monthly newsletter containing the latest vaccine information with links to new or updated resources. Practitioners can subscribe (free of charge) to receive email alerts when a new issue has been published
Other useful websites include:
Vaccine Knowledge Project is a valuable source of independent, up-to-date, evidence-based information about vaccines and infectious diseases written by Oxford University’s Oxford Vaccine Group. It provides clear information on complex topics for practitioners and the public and is backed up with references to high-quality, reliable research.
NHS UK Vaccinations provides information about vaccines for all age groups, both about the vaccines themselves and when and how to access them.
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Vaccine Centre webpages provide lots of useful information for practitioners and the public about vaccines. The Vaccine FAQs page contains videos and Q&As which explain how vaccines work, why they are needed and vaccine safety.
British Society for Immunology provides information, written for the public, about how vaccines work and the difference they can make.
NICE guideline 218: Vaccine uptake in the general population aims to increase the uptake of all vaccines provided on the NHS routine UK immunisation schedule by everyone who is eligible. It includes actions to improve immunisation coverage and support a narrowing of health inequalities.
Flu vaccination: increasing uptake covers how to increase uptake of flu vaccination among people who are eligible. It describes ways to increase awareness and how to use all opportunities in primary and secondary care to identify people who should be encouraged to have the flu vaccine.