New flu fighters pack to help families talk about vaccination

Olivia McCourt with a flu fighters pack

Children starting primary school this September will receive a new flu fighters pack, to help families talk about the flu vaccine and improve uptake among young children.

Put together by Olivia McCourt, a locality lead nurse at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT), the pack combines a space-themed colouring sheet with a new, simplified information sheet for parents and a Department of Health flu leaflet.

The packs are being targeted at seven schools in Swale where uptake has historically been low and could be rolled out more widely, if successful. The project aims to encourage children to take an interest in the subject and continue the conversation at home with their families.

Designed by KCHFT, the colouring sheet has previously been available to download from the trust website. This is the first time it has been included in a dedicated pack for specific schools as part of an approach to improve uptake.

Unlike previous leaflets, which were mainly aimed at secondary school-aged children and covered a range of vaccinations, the new version is designed specifically for parents of reception age children. It focuses on what they need to know about the flu vaccine, including session dates and consent deadlines.

The packs will be included in school starter packs and given to reception year children.

Olivia said: "We hope to get the children involved and encourage them to go home and talk about it with their parents. At the moment, parents often receive information by email and, with so many emails arriving every day, important messages can sometimes be missed.

"We hope this approach helps get families talking about vaccination and gives parents another opportunity to see the information and make an informed choice."

The work forms part of a quality improvement (QI) project which aims to increase primary school flu vaccine uptake in Swale, while also raising awareness of the Kent School Health Team.

The project will run until March next year, with success measured by comparing consent and uptake rates with previous years.

Around 570 packs are expected to be distributed across the seven schools.

Olivia is leading the project with support from School Aged Immunisation Service Business Manager Sophie Tonks and Public Health Assistant Claire Mason.