A campaign to raise public awareness about the importance of immunisation has been launched to coincide with European Immunisation Week.

The campaign, supported by the HSE, highlights the importance of childhood vaccinations in preventing serious illness.

Health Minister James Reilly, launching the campaign today, said vaccination was now recognised as one of the most effective public health measures for saving lives and promoting better health.

"Prevention is a key goal in healthcare, and the ability of vaccines to prevent illness and death associated with many serious diseases is one of the success stories of scientific innovation," he said.

Parents can keep track of their child's vaccination schedule using irishhealth.com's unique Child Immunisation Tracker

The HSE has stressed that parents and carers need to remember that children need to complete the full course of immunisations on the schedule to ensure they are adequately protected.

"Getting these diseases presents a much greater risk than the minor side effects from immunisation. We often forget how serious these are - thanks largely to vaccines- because we don't see then nearly as much as we used to," said Dr Brenda Corcoran of the HSE National Immunisation Office.

She stressed that the conditions which vaccination protects against, such as measles, can cause serious illness and death.

There is currently a major measles outbreak in the UK, and there has been a significant increase in the number of cases of whooping cough in Ireland.

"Immunisation is one of the most important things you can do for your child. By vaccinating, you help protect your child from getting diseases that can cause both minor and major illness," said Prof Denis Gill, Chairman of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee.

He said immunisation rates in Ireland were now relatively high but we needed to achieve a 95% vaccination rate to ensure the public is effectively protected against disease.

The immunisation campaign has been developed by Pfizer Healthcare Ireland.

It includes a TV, radio and bus shelter advertisements.

See also www.immunisation.ie