UK Vaccination Rate: Why It’s Falling and What It Means

The UK has no compulsory vaccines, yet for decades a free, routine schedule protected most children.¹ In recent years, fewer children have been getting their jabs on time, and illnesses many parents had never seen have returned. Most families who fall behind aren’t against vaccines; they simply struggle to get through the door.²

How Far UK Vaccination Rates Have Fallen

The World Health Organization sets 95% coverage as the level needed to halt highly contagious diseases like measles and whooping cough.³ In 2023-24 only 84.3% of UK children had both doses of MMR, the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.⁴ Just 82.8% had completed their preschool booster against whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus and polio.⁵ Early 2026 figures put coverage of the first diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough doses at 90.1% among babies under one year old.⁶

The 95% figure matters because of the community protection that builds when enough people are immune. An infection then can’t find enough new hosts to keep spreading. Babies too young for their jabs rely on the people around them being protected, and a small drop in coverage can let a disease that was almost gone start spreading again.

The first doses of the baby vaccine are given in the first months of life, so a shortfall there leaves the youngest children exposed at the most dangerous age. Babies need several doses spaced weeks apart, so one missed or late appointment delays full protection for every dose after it.

Between 2019 and 2023 in England, almost every vaccine fell short of 95% in every income group.⁷ The only exceptions were the six-in-one baby vaccine in the three least deprived groups.⁸

The headline percentage is an average across the whole country, so a neighbourhood with 70% coverage can sit inside a region that looks much healthier. Families who share a school, nursery, place of worship or housing estate are often behind together, because they face the same booking and access problems.

Why Fewer Children Are Being Vaccinated

In London, babies born during COVID were about 5 percentage points less likely to complete their 12-month jabs, with MMR falling from 89.1% to 83.9%.⁹ Many appointments were never booked, and the number of unbooked MMR appointments rose by 10%.¹⁰ Parents reported difficulty booking or attending appointments and a lack of reminders.¹¹ One bad experience at the surgery can also put parents off future jabs.¹² Parents mostly blame practical difficulties, not doubts about vaccines, for delays.¹³

Many parents assume a missed appointment will simply be rebooked for them, and when no reminder comes the weeks pass.

Mistrust plays a smaller part. A 1998 paper claiming MMR caused autism has been discredited, and no link has ever been found.¹⁴ Parents still mention it, though, and during one measles outbreak over half of the people surveyed raised autism.¹⁵ Two in five UK parents had seen negative vaccine messages on social media.¹⁶ Some hesitancy, rooted in low trust or a belief that the risk is low, is hard to shift and strongly predicts not getting vaccinated.¹⁷ Some parents, particularly from ethnic minority groups, have also had more questions about vaccines since COVID.¹⁸

Some barriers are hard to see from outside a community. Some Muslim mothers avoided jabs during Ramadan not for religious reasons but because looking after an unsettled baby while fasting was too hard.¹⁹ Cuts to local council budgets also removed community teams that had built trust with residents.²⁰

Measles and Whooping Cough Are Coming Back

In one UK children’s emergency department outbreak, 86% of confirmed measles cases old enough for MMR had not had any dose.²¹ A quarter of cases were babies under one, too young for routine MMR.²² And 29% of the children were admitted to hospital.²³ A third came to the emergency department more than once before being tested, which risks spreading measles in waiting rooms.²⁴²⁵

Measles usually begins with a high fever, a cough, a runny nose and red, watery eyes, which can look like a bad cold at first. A rash typically appears a few days later, often starting on the face or behind the ears and spreading over the body. A child can be infectious before the rash shows, which is part of why it spreads so easily. Complications can include ear infections and pneumonia, and, rarely, swelling of the brain.

If you suspect measles, phone your GP or 111 before you go in, rather than turning up at a surgery or emergency department. Calling ahead lets staff see your child away from other patients, including babies and people with weak immune systems. Mention measles by name when you call. Seek urgent help if your child is struggling to breathe, is very drowsy, or has a fit.

Whooping cough surged once normal mixing resumed after COVID.²⁶ Cases are expected to appear among unvaccinated people, including babies of unvaccinated mothers.²⁷

The “whoop” after a coughing fit is not always present in babies. In very young babies it can show up as pauses in breathing or a blue tinge around the lips. Young babies are the group most likely to need hospital care, which is why protection before birth matters. They often catch it from older children or adults, who may only seem to have a lingering cough that can last for weeks.

Why Vaccines in Pregnancy Protect Your Newborn

Antibodies from the mother’s vaccine protect the baby before it is old enough for its own jabs.²⁸ A dose in pregnancy prevents around 78% of whooping cough cases in newborns.²⁹ Yet uptake fell from 70% in 2017 to 58% in 2023.³⁰ Flu jab uptake in pregnancy fell to 43.7% in 2019-20.³¹

In London, only about two-thirds of pregnant women knew these jabs were recommended.³² Some believed they didn’t need it because they were healthy or planned to breastfeed.³³ But being healthy doesn’t pass whooping cough antibodies to the baby; the vaccine does. Breastfeeding doesn’t give the same protection as the jab in pregnancy either.

The whooping cough jab is usually offered from around 16 weeks, often around the time of the anomaly scan. Having it by about 32 weeks gives the baby the best protection, because antibodies need time to pass across the placenta. If you are later than that, it is still worth asking, since some protection is better than none.

The flu jab is offered in autumn and winter, when flu circulates, and can be given at any stage of pregnancy. Pregnancy can make flu more serious for the mother, so the jab protects her as well as the baby. The antibodies passed on can also give a young baby some protection in their first months. If nobody has mentioned either jab, ask your midwife or GP rather than waiting to be offered.

What You Can Do If Your Child Is Behind

Missed jabs can usually be given late, and the course doesn’t need to start again. Your child’s personal health record, the red book, has a section listing the vaccines your child has had and the dates. Compare it with the NHS schedule, which gives the ages for each jab, even if your child seems well, because gaps are easy to miss. If you can’t find the book, your GP surgery can look up the record and tell you what is outstanding.

Ask the surgery to book a catch-up appointment directly, and don’t rely on reminders arriving, because they have been inconsistent.³⁴ Catching up on the MMR and whooping cough jabs is especially worth prioritising, given the current outbreaks. If you’re unsure which are outstanding, the practice nurse or health visitor can work it out with you.

Doctors are advised to be honest about side effects.³⁵ When worries about harm were brushed off, some people stopped getting vaccinated.³⁶ So ask directly about side effects, and expect a proper answer.

Write your questions down beforehand, since it is easy to forget them in a short appointment. Expect a mild fever or soreness for a day or two after the jab, and ask what to do if your child seems unwell. If your week is busy or you are fasting, reschedule to a better day soon instead of skipping the jab altogether. You can also ask whether more than one jab can be given at the same visit, which can mean fewer trips.

Will the UK Make Vaccines Compulsory

The UK has no mandatory vaccines but monitors uptake closely.³⁷ A mandate might mean proof of vaccination before a child could start school or nursery, with medical exemptions for children who cannot safely be vaccinated. Parents who are behind because of access problems, rather than refusal, could find the rule hits them hardest unless services improve. Critics fear mandates could deepen mistrust among people who already feel unheard.

Scandinavian countries reach high coverage without making vaccines compulsory, through well-organised services.³⁸ When parents were asked to choose, they preferred school or nursery entry rules over £450 fines for missed doses.³⁹ Some reminder text messages have nudged uptake up slightly.⁴⁰ Experts argue that the most effective approach is help tailored to each community, not pressure.⁴¹ Local teams who know residents can address the specific barrier in their area.