Parents urged to vaccinate children at the right time to protect them

The latest annual COVER data on childhood vaccines 2025 to March 2026 published today by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows signs that uptake of key vaccines offered as part of the NHS childhood vaccination schedule by age 5 (prior to starting primary school) are stabilising after a decade of slow decline across all vaccines in England.

However, UKHSA is today warning that despite these signs current uptake rates are still well below the World Health Organization (WHO) 95% target and uptake for children measured at age one and age two has decreased again for all vaccines. High uptake is needed to prevent outbreaks and the spread of serious infections, including measles, which is highly infectious particularly in closed environments like schools.

UKHSA is reminding parents that getting their children vaccinated at the right time is essential to protect them when they are most vulnerable and ensure they are ready to thrive when starting nursery and school.

Today’s figures show that for children starting primary school uptake rates for vaccines such as MMR and the 6 -in-1 (which includes diphtheria, whooping cough and polio) have remained stable for the past 3 years:

• 2 doses of MMR vaccine measured at 5 years of age: 83.8% in past year (2025-26); 83.7% in 2024-25; and 83.9% in 2023-24.
• 6-in-1 vaccine measured at 5 years: 92.9% last year; 92.8% in 24-25 and 92.6% in 23-24.

The stabilising of vaccine uptake measured at 5 years will partly be due to NHS catch up activity in the past year alongside other factors. In addition, a further government childhood vaccinations campaign, launched in February 2026, developed with support from NHS England and UKHSA, aims to reverse the decline in uptake by providing clear, trusted information and making it easier than ever for families to access vaccines.

The lowest vaccine uptake rate remains the 4-in-1 pre-school booster (offered from 3 years 4 months) to ensure children have topped up their protection for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio before starting primary school. However, there has been a 0.6% increase on the previous year from 81.3% to 81.9% for 2025 to 2026, but it is too early to say if this is a sign of an upward trend.

Compared with many other countries the UK has a comprehensive and successful NHS childhood vaccination programme, but the slow decline in uptake over the past decade means that none of the vaccines in the schedule now meet the WHO 95% target. Even with an uptake rate of around 90% it still means every year thousands of children are left unprotected and this accumulates year on year, leaving hundreds of thousands of school children at risk of serious disease.

Dr Mary Ramsay, Director of Immunisation at UK Health Security Agency, said:

It is encouraging that we are seeing some signs of the childhood vaccination programme stabilising, but we have a long way to go before all children are fully protected at the right time when they are most vulnerable to a number of serious diseases.

Parents want to do what is best for their children and most do have trust in NHS childhood vaccines, which prevent tens of thousands ending up in hospital every year. We have now largely forgotten how many young lives were lost to diseases like measles and diphtheria before we had these vaccines.

No child today in this country should have to suffer a disease that is so easily preventable. Parents should check their children are up to date with all their vaccines and, if not, contact your GP practice as soon as possible. It’s never too late to catch up with most childhood vaccines.

Vaccines are offered free on the NHS, starting from 8 weeks old, with boosters and additional doses throughout childhood and adolescence. If your child has missed any, catch-up appointments are available through GPs and school programmes.

From 1 January this year, the NHS rolled out the addition of a vaccine to the routine childhood programme to protect against chickenpox. The combined MMRV vaccination provides additional protection against chickenpox with 2 doses providing long-lasting protection again 4 serious diseases: measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox (also known as varicella).

Today’s figures reflect the efforts undertaken by NHS England and regional ICS teams, who have continued the drive to encourage parents to vaccinate their children by making it easier - including hosting extra clinics, catch up opportunities in schools and localised outreach projects to target low uptake areas across the country.

Childhood vaccination coverage varies significantly geographically and continues to be lowest for all the uptake indicators in London.

Latest data on vaccine-preventable diseases is available on the UKHSA Dashboard.

More information on vaccinations is available at nhs.uk/vaccinations.