Publish date: 4 March 2026
There is new guidance on encouraging families whose children have missed their vaccine to get vaccinated. It’s never too late to catch up.
Families have said that healthcare professionals, in particular GPs, health visitors and nurses, are the most trusted source of vaccine information.
If you work with children and families as part of your job, please take some time to read the updated messages and / or share with your own families.
Our school aged immunisations service delivers school aged vaccinations working across primary, secondary, special and independent schools to help our children stay strong and get vaccinated. They also support home educated children or those not in school.
More about the team and where they work can be found on our webpage here: Vaccination and Immunisation Service :: Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. The page has been updated and there are lots of resources available
The childhood vaccination programme is estimated to prevent around 5,000 deaths every year in England.
Vaccinations have ensured the UK has been declared free of diseases such as polio, with others, like diphtheria, almost fully controlled. However, in recent years we have seen a trend of lower vaccine uptake, and this has been exacerbated by the pandemic.
England no longer has the high levels of population immunity recommended by the World Health Organisation for highly infectious diseases like measles to be eliminated (95%), and this has led to increased risk for those who are unvaccinated or under vaccinated.
Preventable childhood infections can have a huge impact on a child’s life: they can miss out on education due to time spent unwell, be hospitalised, and have life long complications such as deafness, blindness, encephalitis (infection of the brain) and paralysis. Sometimes these infections can cause death.
Over the past few years, we have seen the impact of falling uptake of the childhood immunisations programme. In September 2025, almost 1 in 5 children starting primary school were not fully protected against several serious diseases.
Throughout 2024, we continued to see increases in measles cases, as well as whooping cough. In 2025, there continued to be outbreaks of measles in a number of regions in England. Outbreaks continue into 2026. In January 2026, the UK lost its World Health Organisation measles elimination status based on the spread of cases in 2024.
On 1 January 2026, the NHS introduced the MMRV vaccination programme to eligible children to help protect from chickenpox, as well as measles, mumps and rubella. The second dose of MMRV is now also offered earlier, at a new 18 month appointment to boost uptake, provide earlier protection, and support elimination goals.
UKHSA is responsible for protecting every member of every community from the impact of infectious diseases, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents and other health threats. They provide intellectual, scientific and operational leadership at national and local level, as well as on the global stage, to make the nation’s health secure.
UKHSA is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care.
