The extra polio booster offer in London is paused. Information on the future of the programme will be made available soon.
All children remain eligible for their routine polio vaccinations and these continue to be available from your GP.
The best way to prevent polio is to make sure you and your child are up to date with your vaccinations.
The polio vaccine is part of the NHS routine childhood vaccination schedule.
The polio vaccine is given to children at:
- 8, 12 and 16 weeks old as part of the 6-in-1 vaccine
- 3 years, 4 months old as part of the 4-in-1 (DTaP/IPV) pre-school booster
- 14 years old as part of the 3-in-1 (Td/IPV) teenage booster
You need all 5 of these vaccinations to be fully vaccinated against polio.
You can contact your GP surgery to check if you, or your child, are up to date with your polio vaccinations, you can also check your child’s personal child health record (red book).
If you or your child are not up to date, book an appointment with your GP surgery to get vaccinated free on the NHS.
Polio is serious and can result in life-long paralysis and other disabilities, and in some cases, even death. There is no cure for polio, immunisation is the only protection.
You can find out more about Polio here https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/polio/
You can check what vaccines your child should have received online: nhs.uk/vaccinations
