Who should be immunised against TB?
The immunisation programme to counter TB has changed over the past few decades as the number of people with TB has reduced in many parts of the UK. Immunisation with BCG vaccine is now only given to those people, usually children, who are at a high risk of catching TB. This has changed from 2005. Before 2005 all children were routinely immunised with the BCG vaccine at the age of 13 years.
In the UK, immunisation against TB with the BCG vaccine is offered to:.
•Babies living in areas of the UK where there is a high rate of TB. That is, areas where the incidence of TB is 40 cases per 100,000 people per year, or greater.
•Babies (and children who have not previously been immunised) whose parents or grandparents have lived in a country where the incidence of TB is 40 cases per 100,000 people per year or greater.
•The following groups of people who have not previously been immunised:
◦Children (under 16 years) who have come to live in the UK from countries where TB is common (at least 40 cases per 100,000 people per year) and have not been immunised before.
◦Adults under 35 years who have come to live in UK from countries where there is a high rate of TB - over 500 cases per 100,000 people per year.
◦People at risk due to their job. For example, health workers, prison staff, etc.
◦Close contacts of people with active TB who have never received the BCG vaccine.
Rates of TB are now very low in many parts of the UK and children living in these areas have a very low risk of infection. However, in other areas, rates of TB are increasing. This is why the BCG vaccine is now mainly targeted at babies living in areas where there is an increasing rate of TB cases. Your doctor or midwife will be able to tell you if you live in an area with a high rate of TB.
Children who would previously have been offered immunisation with BCG vaccine through the schools' programme are now screened for risk factors for TB, tested, and immunised as appropriate.