Students in Shetland are encouraged to ensure their vaccinations are up-to-date before heading off to college or university this year.
Infectious diseases such as meningitis, septicaemia (blood poisoning) and measles can spread easily in universities and colleges. Vaccination offers the best protection against these diseases, which is why it's important to check your vaccines are up-to-date.
Students are 11 times more likely to develop invasive meningococcal disease, which causes meningitis and septicaemia. The meningitis ACWY (MenACWY) vaccine helps to protect against these very serious diseases.
Parts of the UK and other countries in Europe have been seeing an increase in the number of people getting measles, and evidence suggests students are at higher risk. That’s why it’s important to check you’ve had two doses of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella and has saved over 4,500 lives across the UK.
Dr Susan Laidlaw, Director of Public Health for NHS Shetland, said: “Infectious diseases such as measles and meningococcal disease can be severe, in some cases, life-threatening, and increased numbers of these diseases were reported nationally earlier this year. Students, in particular, are at increased risk due to the large amounts of mixing with new people. But we have very effective vaccines that can reduce this risk: vaccination is the best way to ensure you’re protected against these diseases. Vaccines against measles and meningococcal disease are offered as part of the routine childhood and school immunisation programmes, but if they’ve been missed, it’s not too late to catch up.
“Ideally, they should be given at least two weeks before the new semester starts. If you are not sure if you have had these vaccines, please contact your GP practice or the Vaccination Team on shet.vaccination-team@nhs.scot”
There is also still time to get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, although most students will have received this at school. It helps protect against HPV-related cancers including head, neck and cervical cancer and also protects against over 90% of genital wart infections.
To find out how you can get these vaccines, as well as any others you may be eligible for, please visit nhsinform.scot/vaccinesforstudents
International students may be able to get additional vaccines that were not available where they lived before.
