Only one in five of four to five year-old eligible schoolchildren in North Cork are receving vital vaccinations under the HSE's School Immunisation Programme, new figures have shown.

The HSE provides a booster four-in-one vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio and a second MMR vaccine for four-to-five year-old children through primary schools or through GPs in areas that do not run a schools-based programme.

However, according to the first ever national survey of vaccine uptake in this programme, the uptake in North Cork schools in the academic year 2011-12 was only around one-third the national average uptake.

The number of reported whooping cough cases nationally has doubled over the past year and two infant deaths from the disease have been reported.

The HSE's Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) collected vaccine uptake data from each Local Health Office school immunisation team.

it was found that North Cork had an uptake rate among schoolchildren of only 26.4% for the 'four-in-one' jab and 26.6% for the MMR vaccine in the school year 2011-12.

The national average uptake in the schools vaccine programme was 86.2% for the four-in-one and 83.7% for the MMR.

Most local health areas had uptake rates of well in excess of 80% in the schools vaccine programme.

Of the 32 HSE Local Health Offices, 24 administer the booster 'four-in-one' jab through schools and 26 administer the MMR through schools, with the remaining areas administering vaccines through GPs.

The HPSC said reasons for low vaccine uptake in schools can include children being absent on the day and not attending follow-up clinics, parents declining vaccines for their children and some children having already been vaccinated by their GP.

The report shows that the overall vaccine uptake rate in the schools programme was less than the international standard targeted rate of 95%.

Earlier this year, ther was an outbreak of measles in the West Cork area. The new report shows that there was a 76% MMR uptake among West Cork schoolchildren in 2011-12.

Find out about our unique Child Immunisation Tracker

See also www.immunisation.ie