This standard defines what information needs to be extracted from Child Health Information Systems (CHIS) to comply with the reporting requirements of the COVER (Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly) programme.

COVER measures vaccine coverage for each vaccine included in the routine childhood immunisation programme in England for children aged 3 months (BCG only), and one, two and five years of age.

Vaccine coverage data is extracted quarterly and annually from local CHIS which have been commissioned by NHS England and data is submitted to the NHS England Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS).

Local Authority (LA) coverage data is published as official statistics quarterly, by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), and as national statistics annually by UKHSA and NHS England jointly. General Practice (GP) level data is published quarterly and annually by UKHSA for local performance management purposes.

Previous versions of the COVER information standard were owned and maintained by Public Health England. From October 2021, the UKHSA adopted the health protection responsibilities of PHE as that organisation ceased to exist. UKHSA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care and is responsible for planning, preventing and responding to external health threats, and providing intellectual, scientific and operational leadership at national and local level.

About this change

This release introduces several changes in in line with amendments to the routine immunisation schedule:

• addition of three new fields to capture data for Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccinations, including new data items for the number of BCG vaccinations at 3 months of age and the number of BCG-eligible babies at 3 and 12 months of age
• removal of 3 fields that are now redundant after the completed transition to new regimes.