Chickenpox jabs introduced as experts warn many children in England start school without vaccinations

England needs to “wake up” to its faltering infant vaccination programme, experts have warned, as it was revealed that one in five children start primary school unprotected from serious infectious diseases.

It comes as the government announces a new vaccination programme for chickenpox from January, meaning that GPs will offer eligible children a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella – the clinical term for chickenpox – as part of the routine infant vaccination schedule.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the target for vaccine uptake among children in order to achieve herd immunity is 95%. But figures for 2024-25 released by the UK Health Security Agency on Thursday show that no childhood vaccine has met this requirement.

Only 83.7% of five-year-olds have received both doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, while uptake of the four-in-one preschool booster vaccine – which 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 in September. The government has urged parents to make sure their children are up to date with their vaccines.

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Source: The Guardian, 29 August 2025