NHS Strategy Aims to Persuade ‘Vaccine Hesitant’ at Parents’ Evenings

Wide-ranging document proposes increased surveillance of patient data and enhanced use of ‘nudge’ tactics in bid to drive up falling childhood vaccine uptake.

Mackenzie Bubel, 8, receives a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine booster shot at Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pa., on June 2, 2022. Hannah Beier/Reuters

The NHS has published a new “vaccine strategy” which proposes its staff should attend school parents’ evenings in a bid to reach those it terms “vaccine hesitant” following a ten-year decline in the number of children receiving all recommended jabs.

The report sets out aims to “make vaccination the business of everyone working in patient-facing roles” and proposes that unregistered staff should be allowed to administer injections.