Child vaccination uptake is the lowest it has been in more than a decade, with a death from measles in Liverpool reigniting calls for increased awareness of the dangers of not getting jabs.
A report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) this month reiterated that none of the routine child vaccinations have met the World Health Organisation’s recommended target of 95% since 2021.
Uptake in some local authorities is as low as 60%, while the England-wide rate for the final quarter of 2024/25 for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) was 88.8%, down from 92.7% 10 years ago.
The latest UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show there were 145 new measles cases in England in July.
With outbreaks across Europe and elsewhere, public health officials are concerned families may bring the virus back to the UK when they return to school from the summer holidays.
We look at why vaccination rates have declined, and the reasons some parents are still hesitant to get their children immunised.
When did uptake start declining – and where is it worst now?
Routine childhood vaccinations largely consist of the 6-in-1 vaccine, which covers diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, and hepatitis B; the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella; and the MenB vaccine, which covers the meningococcal group B bacterium that can cause meningitis and sepsis.
They are all administered free of charge across two or three doses before children are five, with most in the first year.
WHO recommends countries set targets of 95% coverage of all three to ensure herd immunity and to protect those who are immunocompromised and cannot have the vaccines themselves.
In the UK, MMR rates have consistently been the lowest. The most recent decline began in 2013/14, when uptake at two years peaked at 92.7%.
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