Dr, I’m worried about having a vaccination – how can I be sure it will be safe?

Vaccines are a crucial part of our defence against infectious diseases like flu and measles.

Vaccines are designed to prevent people from getting serious infectious diseases.

Vaccines reduce the spread of infectious diseases and even get rid of some altogether. Since they were introduced, serious conditions like polio and tetanus have become very rare in the UK.

When enough people get vaccinated, it’s harder for a disease to spread to those who can’t have vaccines. Getting vaccinated protects not only you, but also your family, friends and community.

It is much safer for your immune system to learn how to fight illnesses through vaccination than by catching and treating an illness.

Vaccines go through several stages of lab tests and clinical trials before they can be approved for use.

Regulators review the results of these trials to check whether a vaccine meets the required levels of safety and effectiveness.

Once a vaccine is being used in the UK it's also monitored for any rare side effects by the Medicines

and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). This is an important part of making sure

vaccines continue to meet safety standards on an ongoing basis.

You can read all about how vaccines are licensed, tested and monitored on the Oxford University Vaccine Knowledge Project website.

The most common side effects of vaccination include:

• the area where the needle goes in looking red, swollen and feeling a bit sore for 2 to 3 days

• babies or young children feeling a bit unwell or developing a high temperature for 1 or 2 days

Some children might also cry and be upset immediately after the injection. This is normal and they should feel better after a cuddle.

It's rare for anyone to have a serious allergic reaction to a vaccination.

If this does happen, it usually happens within minutes. The person who vaccinates you or your child will be trained to deal with allergic reactions and treat them immediately.

With prompt treatment, you or your child will make a good recovery.

The main ingredient of any vaccine is a small amount of bacteria, virus or toxin that's been weakened or destroyed in a laboratory first.

Vaccines sometimes contain other ingredients that make the vaccine safe and more effective. There is no evidence that any of these ingredients cause harm when used in such small amounts.

Dr, my daughter has talked about me being part of a ‘support bubble’ – what does that mean?

A support bubble is a close support network between a household with only one adult, or a household with one adult and one or more children under the age of 18, and one other household of any size.

Once you’re in a support bubble, you can think of yourself as being in a single household with the people from the other household.

It means you can have close contact with that household, as if they lived with you.

It’s best if you have a support bubble with a household that lives locally wherever possible.

This will help to prevent the virus spreading from an area where there might be a higher rate of infection.

You will still need to follow social distancing guidance with people you don’t live with who are not part of your support bubble.

This is critical to keeping you, your family and friends as safe as possible.

Two households can only form one support bubble – you can’t form a support bubble with more than one other household.

You can create a support bubble if you:

llive by yourself – even if carers visit you to provide support

are a single adult living with children who are under 18

llive with other adults, including if your carer or carers live with you, but if you live with flatmates, you can only form a bubble with one other household.

Once you make a support bubble, you cannot change who is in your bubble.

Lone parents can form a support bubble with another household other than the one that includes your child’s other parent.

So, you could form a bubble with your sister’s household, and your child can still visit their other parent, if that parent doesn’t live with you.

If anyone in your support bubble develops symptoms or tests positive for coronavirus, follow the stay at home guidance.

If you share custody of your child, and you and your child’s other parent are in separate bubbles, members of both bubbles should stay at home if someone develops symptoms.

This is critical to controlling the virus as it will help to stop it spreading across multiple households.

If NHS Test and Trace contacts you or someone in your support bubble, you should follow their guidance.

If you’re clinically extremely vulnerable, with specific serious health conditions, you should reduce social contacts as much as possible. You will minimise your risk of infection if you limit all your contacts, particularly with people that you do not live with.