Where are we on the journey? Keynote Speech Where are we on the journey? Good morning and thankyou for inviting me to open this important conference today 18 months ago I joined CNO office as the lead for Maternity, Health Visiting and School Nursing services. As a midwife previously and working with Health visitors and school nurses now I am proud of the dedication to rollout of vaccination programmes and the adaptive programmes, utilising skill mix which are used to ensure optimum coverage. Karen Jewell Swyddog Nyrsio – Llywodraeth Cymru Nursing Officer – Welsh Government 1

Vaccines have been around for a long time and have contributed to protecting individuals, populations, preventing infection and deaths. Many people now forget about how deadly these disease were – diphtheria killed around 50,000 people per year (in England and Wales) before the vaccine was introduced in 1942 and pertussis around 92,000 per year before 1957. New vaccines are being developed all the time and are being added to the national programmes: In April 2017 we extended HPV vaccine to men who have sex with men and in autumn 2017 introduced a new hexavalent vaccine for infants instead of the 5 in 1 vaccine which provides additional protection against hepatitis B. New more effective flu vaccine are being introduced for > 65 years this season and of course we have the extension of the school programme.

Percentage uptake of childhood immunisations in Wales, quarter 1 1997 to quarter 1 2017 Uptake levels are high and whilst we would like all individuals to have the benefit of vaccine protection it is important that population coverage is maximised. Anti-vaccine campaigns have been more prevalent in recent times – important to counteract these. Valuable work undertaken by health professionals to maintain these uptake levels but we need to be vigilant. Recent WHO report outlined an increase in measles cases in Europe. Routine uptake of MMR has been in decline recently in Wales – approximately 40,000 young people aged 5 – 16 years in Wales are not fully protected against measles (over 20,000 have had no MMR vaccination) with the peak age group 12 to 16 years. We need to work together and make “every contact count” Outbreak in Wales currently .

The difference (inequality gap) between quintiles of highest and lowest deprivation percentages of children up to date with immunisations by key birthdays. Good news reducing the gap for infants, 2 year olds and teenagers ( 15yrs) Not so good in rise in gap for 4 year olds - role of primary care ,HVs ,d SNs to ensure children are fully protected at start of school

In Sept 2017 WHO Europe officially declared the UK had eliminated measles. Small outbreaks due to imported disease will continue to occur, but spread will be limited as a result of high levels of MMR vaccination.

World Immunisation week 24-30 April 2018 (is an animated picture in slideshow mode) As recently as 1980, only 20% of children globally received basic infant vaccinations. Today, although over 85% of the world’s children receive infant vaccinations against serious childhood diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hepatitis, measles and tuberculosis, 1 in 7 children still do not.

And finally- European Immunisation week runs from 23- 29th April to raise awareness of the importance of immunization for people’s health and well-being. This year EIW will focus on immunization as an individual right and shared responsibility to help close immunization gaps and further progress towards the global Sustainable Development Goals. EIW slogan: Prevent, Protect, Immunise. I encourage you all to identify opportunities for raising awareness of the importance of immunisation in your localities. The EIW and WHO websites have some excellent resources you can download to support local activities. It is always worth repeating that immunisation is second only to clean water as the most effective public health interventions we have. I would like to thank you all for your hard work in striving to meet the demands of the increasing numbers of patients and vaccine programmes. I wish the vaccine programme every success with this conference. Diolch yn fawr Thank you very much http://eiw.euro.who.int/

As Ghandi quoted if we are to build this change we need to DO

Diolch yn fawr / Thank you jean.white@wales.gsi.gov.uk