You will have had information over the last few weeks about plans for a national MMR call/recall campaign for children who are not fully up to date with both doses of MMR.

Following consultation with the GPC we are writing to advise you that the campaign will go live the week commencing 26 September 2022.  

The campaign is being organized at a national level. This means that the only action for GP practices is to provide an appointment for vaccination when a parent/guardian contacts their practice after receiving a letter.

Steps in the national campaign:

• Parents/guardians of children aged 1-6 years old who have missed one or both doses or the MMR vaccine will be sent a letter from SCW CSU, who are organizing this campaign from a national perspective. Letters to parents/guardians are scheduled to be delivered the week commencing 26 September 2022 and the campaign is likely to run until December 2022.

(Please note – there has been a national data bulk upload from GPIT systems to NIMS in readiness for sending out the letters and there will be a daily refresh during the campaign)

• The letter will advise the parent that records suggest that their child is due or has not completed the MMR vaccination course and will invite the parent check their Red Book, to check other immunisations and to book an appointment with their practice
• There will be 3 rounds of invites, so further texts will then be sent at 4 to 5 week intervals following the initial letter.

Please note: practices do not need to do local system searches or send out letters or texts, this will be coordinated nationally.

The only action for practices is to book children in for vaccination appointments when their parents contact the practice as a result of the letter.

To support the campaign,  a press release and social media activity to amplify the key message of MMR vaccination uptake will also be rolled out whilst the campaign is running.

We know and really appreciate that you are also supporting the polio campaign and will be applying the principles of making every contact count to also ensure children are caught up on MMR and other due and overdue child immunisations such as child flu. NHSE London sincerely thanks you for your hard work on immunisations during this extremely busy period. 

Should you have any queries, please contact england.londonimms@nhs.net and mark your query MMR catch up campaign.