There are a number of reasons why you may not be protected – or why you may need a booster vaccination to help maintain your protection:
- even though you may have been vaccinated as a child, immunity to certain diseases can decrease (“wane”) over time and therefore you may need a booster;
- you may have missed out on essential childhood vaccines, or not completed a course, which may leave adults unprotected against specific diseases;
- the vaccination schedule (vaccines given free of charge to children and adults) has developed and changed over time (e.g. the addition of vaccines to protect against varicella (chickenpox) and pneumococcal disease, etc.). This means that some are now recommended to have vaccines not available when they were a child*;
- the influenza (flu) virus keeps changing - therefore the vaccine you had last year may not protect you this year.
* note - you may not need these recently introduced vaccines, speak to your doctor.
Please note that the information provided does not replace the advice of a healthcare professional. It contains general information about protection against vaccine-preventable diseases and cannot not take into account your personal circumstances or medical history. This website does not cover all vaccine preventable diseases.