Newly published data show that nearly 1 in 5 children starting primary school are not fully protected against several serious diseases, prompting the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England to call for parents and healthcare workers to catch up on missed vaccinations.
The latest annual uptake data on childhood vaccines (April 2024-March 2025) published recently by UKHSA, shows 18.6% of children have not received their pre-school booster jab.
The figures report on children who turned five years old between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. In England over the last 10 years, the coverage or uptake rates for the pre-school booster peaked at 86.3% in 2015 to 2016. The latest data, at 81.4%, is nearly 5% lower than the peak. Outside of London, the coverage for England was 85.0%.
The 4-in-1 pre-school booster helps protect against 4 serious illnesses - polio, whooping cough, tetanus and diphtheria. Given from 3 years 4 months of age, the vaccine boosts the protection provided by previous vaccines given to babies. It ensures children have the essential protection they need when starting primary school. Without this booster, children are not fully protected.
The data also shows that uptake measured for 3 doses of the 6-in-1 vaccine by 5 years of age in England increased by 0.2% to 92.8%. This increase is encouraging, and healthcare professionals are urging further progress towards reaching the peak of 95.6% over the last 10 years (2016 to 2017). A further 2.8% increase is needed to reach the peak level.
NHS England and regional ICB teams have continued the drive to encourage parents to vaccinate their children including hosting extra clinics, catch up opportunities in schools and localised outreach projects to target low uptake areas across the country. Early results from today’s released data indicates that the decline in the MMR1 vaccine has stabilised with 91.8% receiving their first dose by age 5 years.
Childhood vaccination coverage varies significantly geographically and continues to be lowest for all the uptake indicators in London.
Dr Mary Ramsay, Director of Immunisation at UK Health Security Agency, said: “Ensuring all our children starting primary school are fully protected is essential to keep them safe and give them the best opportunity to thrive at school. Far too many children will not be fully protected and safe when starting school and are at risk of serious diseases, such as measles and whooping cough, that have in recent years caused outbreaks. Measles, being the most infectious disease, is the ‘canary in the coalmine’ and a wake-up call that urgent action is needed to stop the very real risk of other diseases re-emerging.”
Latest data on vaccine-preventable diseases is available on the UKHSA Dashboard.