Outcome of referrals to a district immunisation advisory clinic.

We have studied referrals to and outcomes of consultation at a district immunisation advisory clinic, aiming to examine and confirm the rarity of true contraindications, the safety of immunising children with possible contraindications, and the influence on parents of counselling by well informed professionals. We examined medical records and postal questionnaires to parents, representing 30 months' work. Three hundred and fifty-eight children were referred to the clinic, 248 of whom were seen and 110 (31%) did not attend. Fourteen children who attended (6%) had a true contraindication to the vaccine(s) in question and 202 of the remaining 234 (86%) proceeded to vaccination with no adverse effect. Forty of the 110 (36%) who were referred but did not attend were vaccinated, and no adverse effects were reported, but the immunisation rate of this group was significantly lower than that seen in the clinic (chi 2 test, p < 0.001). True contraindications to childhood immunisation were rare, and children with difficult problems were safely vaccinated. The immunisation advisory clinic is effective in counselling parents who are uncertain about childhood immunisation.