Warning Over Low Uptake of Vaccines for Children

England needs to "wake up" to its faltering infant vaccination programme, experts said yesterday, as new figures revealed one in five children start primary school unprotected from serious infectious diseases.

- Tobi Thomas

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the target for vaccine uptake among children to achieve herd immunity is 95%.

But figures for 2024/25 released by the UK Health Security Agency yesterday show no childhood vaccine has met this level of uptake.

Only 83.7% of five-year-olds have received both doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, while uptake of the four-in-one preschool booster vaccine that protects against polio, whooping cough, tetanus and diphtheria stood at 81.4% among five-year-olds in England.

The low uptake rates have prompted fears that children will be more vulnerable to infectious diseases as they begin primary school next week, with the government urging parents to make sure their children are up to date with vaccinations.

In July a child died in Liverpool after contracting measles, marking the first death in the UK from the disease in a decade. Only 73% of children in Liverpool have received the two MMR shots necessary to protect against measles.