These are worrying times for everyone, but especially so if you are a parent of a baby.

During the coronavirus outbreak, what happens to your child's vaccination and immunisation schedule? The advice from Dr Helen Kingston, the senior partner at the Frome Medical Practice is quite straightforward.

'One of the best ways to protect your baby against diseases like measles, rubella, tetanus and meningitis is through immunisation,' says Dr Kingston. 'Your baby needs their first injections at 8 weeks, then 12 weeks, 16 weeks and one year.'

'Some patients might have seen a recent comment on daytime television suggesting that the childhood immunisation programme has been put on hold as a result of the coronavirus,' adds Dr Kingston. 'This is definitely not the case. It is important that you should attend any childhood immunisation appointments you have unless you or your child has symptoms of the coronavirus.'

Some parents have been reporting difficulties in obtaining infant paracetamol suspension as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. However, given the serious infections that the vaccines protect against, Public Health England are recommending that the routine primary immunisation schedule should not be delayed.

Whilst parents should continue to try to obtain and administer infant paracetamol if possible, infant vaccines can and should still be given even if it is not possible to give prophylactic paracetamol.

Detailed advice to parents is set out on the practice website here: the Frome site

'We have also been made aware of concerns that parents will not know whether a fever is a result following the immunisation or down to COVID-19,'says Dr Kingston. 'Indications to date suggest that COVID-19 causes mild disease in infants and children.

As has always been recommended, any infant with fever following immunisation should be monitored and if parents are still concerned about their child's health at any time then they should seek advice from their GP or NHS 111. The same advice applies to teenagers who are due their adolescent immunisations.'

To watch and listen to Dr Kingston in her own words then just click on to this link

the practice website

If any parent has concerns regarding an immunisation appointment then Child Health can be contacted on 01278 589225.

If your child has missed an immunisation for any reason then you can call the practice on 01373 301301 (the lines are less busy after 2pm).