The set up proved hugely beneficial in terms of meeting the challenges that emerged as a result of the pandemic. The first lockdown in spring 2020 meant that immunisation services across the country fell behind in their HPV and three-in-one teenage booster vaccine programmes.
Stockport school nurses responded by setting up a vaccination clinic in a local church hall over the summer holidays in 2020. More than 1,000 children were vaccinated. Parents really appreciated the offer. One said: “I was so impressed with how organised it was – it worked like clockwork.”
Then, when the child COVID vaccination programme got under way in September 2021, the team combined those with routine immunisations.
Ms Gallogly said: “It was a huge undertaking and resulted in a very intense few weeks. We were determined that we did not want the other routine vaccinations to stop so we did both.”
This was achieved with help from the public health team at the council as the local COVID advice and testing team worked with the service to help with the admin side of the children’s COVID vaccination programme for the first dose.
The COVID-19 testing team went in with the school nurses and immunisation team to support with some of the data entry requirements. The arrangement worked well - Stockport had the highest uptake for the first dose in Greater Manchester with an uptake of 64 per cent.
“The pandemic has actually helped to build new relationships like that,” said Ms Gallogly. “And then when the second doses needed to be done, we were actually able to train the testing team as vaccinators under the national protocol that was allowed. They had seen what it entailed and had the support of our nurses.”
Other steps were also taken, including establishing a half-term catch up clinic at a local church to offer COVID vaccines to those who had not yet been vaccinated or were being home educated and had not had the chance to get vaccinated in school. A clinic for children and young people with needle phobias was also offered to allow those who were too anxious to access vaccines in school to have their vaccinations.
But now that is complete, the school nursing service is back prioritising routine vaccinations. Ms Gallogly said: “Immunisation is so important that we cannot let uptake drop. The focus and controversy over the COVID vaccine has affected other vaccines with negative press and misinformation being shared, so we are still working hard to make sure the right information is available and rebuild the confidence of parents in the programmes.
“We are going through the data and identifying areas where there has been a lower uptake so we need to think about what the barriers are and how we can overcome these. We are engaging families one-by-one and even offering home vaccinations where appropriate. It is time-consuming, but it is worth it.”