Introduction
The Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly (COVER) Data Set is used to evaluate the routine childhood Immunisation Programme in England for children up to 5 years of age. The aim is to collect and report vaccine uptake data for all children at three months (Tuberculosis (BCG) only), one, two and five years of age on a quarterly and annual basis.
The Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly (COVER) Data Set is also used to evaluate the neonatal hepatitis B Immunisation Programme in England for babies born to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive mothers.
The information is used:
- to reliably measure vaccine coverage
- to evaluate the success of a vaccination programme
- to identify susceptible populations for further interventions
- and to inform future vaccine policy decisions.
The UK Health Security Agency is mandated to report on vaccine uptake figures for children aged three months (Tuberculosis (BCG) only), one, two and five years for the Local Authority (upper tier) registered population for the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) indicator Population vaccination coverage.
NHS England is mandated to produce the annual Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly (COVER) statistics. Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly (COVER) statistics enable the monitoring of the contribution of the routine childhood Immunisation Programme towards protecting and improving the nation’s health and are used to address inequalities.
The UK Health Security Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care also have commitments to report vaccine coverage figures to international organisations such as the World Health Organisation, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Submission
Immunisation records are held in Child Health Information Systems (CHIS). Quarterly and annual returns are transmitted by Child Health Record Departments (who operate local Child Health Information Systems (CHIS)) or other local Health Care Providers to the NHS England Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS).
Further Guidance
For further guidance see the UK Health Security Agency part of the gov.uk website at Vaccine uptake guidance and the latest coverage data.
Mandation
The Mandation column indicates the recommendation for the inclusion of data.
- M = Mandatory: this data element is mandatory and the technical process (e.g. submission of the data set, production of output etc) cannot be completed without this data element being present