Practice factsheet: Communication initiatives including reminder schemes to support childhood immunisation (Denmark)

The Danish health authorities have been working with different initiatives to increase vaccination 
coverage and strengthen programme resilience. These include digital reminders, training vaccination
ambassadors, and communication campaigns. The practice targets parents of children aged 3 months
to 12 years and covers vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Hib bacteria, polio and 
pneumococcal disease and human papilloma virus (HPV), and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).

The reminder scheme notifies parents of upcoming or past vaccination dates. To ensure that citizens 
are well informed on vaccination options and procedures, the Danish Health Authority launched the 
concept of “vaccination ambassadors”: home-visiting nurses who receive training in vaccinology and
communication specifically to address vaccine hesitancy. Home-visiting nurses play an important role 
in children’s health as advisors and communicators.

Different aspects of the Childhood Immunisation Programme efficiently counteract challenges such as 
inefficient data collection, lack of vaccination monitoring, and the absence of accessible public 
information. For instance, the Danish vaccination register, to which the reminder schemes are linked, 
updates vaccination data in real time and has comprehensive vaccination tracking capabilities through 
monitoring different age groups, regions and vaccine types. This provides a systemic approach to 
vaccination implementation and monitoring.