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Screening and Vaccinations

Screening is a way of finding out if people have a higher chance of having a health problem, so that early treatment can be offered or information given to help them make informed decisions.

What is Screening?

Screening is a way of identifying apparently healthy people who may have an increased risk of a particular condition. The NHS offers a range of screening tests to different sections of the population.

The aim is to offer screening to the people who are most likely to benefit from it. For example, some screening tests are only offered to newborn babies, while others such as breast screening and abdominal aortic aneurysm screening are only offered to older people.

 

Vaccinations

Vaccines are the most effective way to prevent many infectious diseases.

Vaccines do:

  • help to protect you and your child from many serious and potentially deadly diseases

  • protect other people in your family and community – by helping to stop diseases spreading to people who cannot have vaccines, such as babies too young to be vaccinated and those who are too ill to be vaccinated

  • undergo rigorous safety testing before being introduced – they’re also constantly monitored for side effects after being introduced

  • sometimes cause mild side effects that will not last long – you may feel a bit unwell and have a sore arm for 2 or 3 days

  • reduce or even get rid of some diseases – if enough people are vaccinated

Vaccines do not:

  • do not overload or weaken the immune system – it’s safe to give children and adults several vaccines at a time and this reduces the amount of injections needed

  • do not contain mercury (thiomersal)

  • do not contain any ingredients that cause harm – only ingredients essential to making them safer and more effective and only in very small amounts

  • do not cause autism – studies have found no evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism