title: Vaccine uptake in the Irish Travelling community: an audit of general practice records.
abstract: Compared to the general population, the Traveller community has substantial health inequalities. Vaccination coverage in Traveller children is estimated to be low and Travellers are at higher risk of vaccine-preventable diseases due to their social circumstances.
  
  
  
  Audit of vaccination history of Traveller (n = 214) and non-Traveller (n = 776) children registered at a general practice in England. The Green Book childhood immunization schedule was used as a reference standard.
  
  
  
  There was significantly lower coverage for Traveller children compared to non-Traveller children for all vaccinations in the routine childhood immunization schedule. The percentage of children completing the schedule at all time points was significantly lower in the Traveller community.
  
  
  
  Traveller communities have significantly lower uptake of vaccinations, and therefore Travellers' children should be targeted by general practitioners for catch-up vaccination to improve outcomes for individuals and local herd immunity.
authors.affiliation: School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0SP, UK.
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, The Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB1 8RN, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mullis
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, The Primary Care Unit, Box 113 Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0SR, UK.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blumenfeld
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008485:Medical Audit; D006178:Romani People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000073887:Vaccination Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: ethnicity; immunization; primary care