Can I have the TB vaccination?

BCG is no longer offered routinely to children in secondary schools in the United Kingdom. It has been replaced with a targeted programme for babies, children and young adults at higher risk of TB.

In changes to the BCG programme, in 2005, the Department of Health identified risk factors for TB in children as:

• Being born or having lived in areas where there is a high rate of TB*
• Having a parent or grandparent who was born in a country where there is a high rate of TB*

Where children meet these risk factors, the programme recommends that babies under 12 months have the BCG, and that older children may be tested and vaccinated with BCG if needed.

Your midwife or health visitor should automatically arrange a BCG if your baby falls into this category. Please ask your health visitor, practice nurse or GP to seek advice from the local Immunisation Co-ordinator if you feel your child is at increased risk and they have not been vaccinated.

BCG is not recommended as a routine travel vaccination. If children under 16 are going to live in a country with a high rate of TB*, for more than three months, it is advised they get a skin test to see if BCG is needed.

* a high rate of TB is described as more than 40 cases per year in every 100,000 people