3 hours ago
7
Health visitors will be sent door-to-door to deliver vaccines to children in England amid alarm that one in five start primary school with no protection against deadly diseases, the Guardian can reveal.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that at least 95% of children should receive vaccine doses for each illness to achieve herd immunity. However, not a single one of the main childhood vaccines in England hit the target in 2024-25. There were also sharp differences in uptake across the country.
In an effort to tackle the crisis, health visitors will begin offering a range of life-saving jabs to children in their own homes as part of a £2m pilot scheme starting in January.
Health visitors are nurses or midwives that specialise in working with families with children under five to identify health needs as early as possible. Under the scheme, they will target families who are not signed up with a GP or who struggle with travel costs, childcare, language barriers or other issues stopping them seeing a doctor.
Children will be identified by the NHS using GP records, health visitor notes and local databases, sources said. Health visitors will be trained to administer vaccines safely and have tricky conversations with parents, including those with doubts about vaccine safety.
Twelve pilot areas will launch in January across five regions of England – London, the Midlands, the north-east and Yorkshire, the north-west and the south-west – aimed at boosting uptake and protecting children against diseases. If successful, the scheme will roll out everywhere in 2027.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said: “Every parent deserves the chance to protect their child from preventable diseases, but some families have a lot going on and that can mean they miss out.
“Health visitors are already trusted faces in communities across the country. By allowing them to offer vaccinations, we’re using the relationships and expertise that already exist to reach families who need support most.
“Fixing the NHS means tackling health inequalities head-on. By meeting families where they are, we’re not just boosting vaccination rates – we’re building a health service that works for everyone.”
The child vaccine drive comes as the NHS remains under “extraordinary pressure” amid high rates of flu and other winter bugs. Health leaders are braced for a surge in cases in the next few days as temperatures plummet.
Half a million more people in England have had the flu jab compared with the previous year. But health officials said on Wednesday it was not too late for unvaccinated people to protect themselves for the rest of winter.
The move to send health visitors with vaccines direct to children’s homes comes amid serious concern about uptake in England.
Only 91.9% of five-year-olds received one dose of the MMR (measles, mumps & rubella) vaccine in 2024-25, the lowest level since 2010-11, according to UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data reviewed by the Guardian.
Just 83.7% of five-year-olds had received both MMR doses, down year-on-year from 83.9% and the lowest level since 2009-10. Uptake of the first MMR dose at 24 months stood at 88.9% in 2024-25 – again the lowest figure since 2009-10.
In July a child died in Liverpool after contracting measles, the first such death in the UK in a decade. Only 73% of children in Liverpool have received the necessary two shots to protect against measles.
The UK is the worst of the G7 nations regarding MMR vaccination uptake, according to the WHO: as of 2024 only 89% of children had received their first MMR jab. Globally, millions of children are at risk of lethal diseases owing to vaccine coverage having stalled or reversed, according to the largest study of its kind.
Coverage for the Hib/MenC vaccine, which protects against Haemophilus influenzae type b and meningitis C, stood at 88.9% for five-year-olds in England, the lowest level since 2011-12.
Meanwhile, uptake of the four-in-one preschool booster vaccine – which protects against polio, whooping cough, tetanus and diphtheria – was just 81.4% among five-year-olds in 2024-25.
It means about one in five are unprotected when starting primary school, and represents the worst uptake since current records began in 2009-10.
From Friday, a vaccine for chickenpox will be rolled out on the NHS across England.
The jab, which costs about £150 at private clinics and pharmacies, will form part of a new combined immunisation on the childhood vaccination programme.
Ministers hope it will not only protect some youngsters from severe complications from the virus, but also prevent parents taking time off work to look after their children if they become infected.
The chickenpox vaccine – also known as the varicella jab – will form part of a new combined MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella and varicella) vaccine.
It will be offered at GP practices from Friday, and is expected to offer protection to about 500,000 children every year. The MMRV will eventually replace the MMR, which is offered to babies at 12 months and 18 months.
