Petussis Vaccination Programme Continuation
The Department of Health has announced the extension of the extension of the Pertussis vaccination programme for pregnant women for a further 6 months and sent this letter to area teams and practices. We have contacted the Area Team to confirm the extension of this arrangement in practices from a contractual perspective.

Meningitis C Vaccination Programme Changes
The Department of Health has also announced that, following advice from the JCVI, there will be some changes to the current vaccination schedule for Meningitis C in that the second dose currently given at four months will be replaced by a booster dose given in adolescence. The initial change will be to cease giving the four month dose as from 1 June 2013, and from mid-August 2014, there will also be a catch-up programme for first time university entrants under the age of 25 years. We await further details on this catch-up programme.