{"id":670151,"date":"2026-10-30T19:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T19:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/670151\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T19:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T19:24:17","slug":"more-than-3000-children-hospitalised-with-chickenpox-in-england-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/670151\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 3,000 children hospitalised with chickenpox in England last year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mother<\/a>Image: \u00a9South_agency | iStock
\n New figures reveal the significant impact of chickenpox on children, as health officials urge parents to take advantage of the free NHS vaccine now available<\/p>\n

More than 3,000 children and young people were admitted to hospital with chickenpox in England last year, showing the serious impact the common childhood illness can have on younger age groups.<\/p>\n

Figures published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on 30 October 2026 show 3,037 hospitalisations among under-18s in 2025, before chickenpox protection was introduced into the routine NHS Childhood Vaccination Programme.<\/p>\n

The findings also show that chickenpox resulted in more than 15,000 GP consultations among children and young people under 18, based on monitoring data from around a third of GP practices across England.
Youngest Children Most at Risk<\/p>\n

Children aged five and under were particularly affected, accounting for more than 70% of all clinical chickenpox reports received by regional UKHSA Health Protection Teams.<\/p>\n

Babies under one year old experienced the highest rates of hospitalisation, at 5.8 per 100,000 children, compared with 2.3 per 100,000 among children aged one to four.<\/p>\n

The figures are believed to represent only part of the illness\u2019s true impact, as many parents manage mild cases at home without seeking medical advice.<\/p>\n

Chickenpox also affected education, with 4,117 absences recorded across a sample of 439 nurseries and primary schools during 2025.<\/a><\/p>\n

Free NHS vaccine now available<\/p>\n

Since 1 January 2026, protection against chickenpox has been included in the routine NHS childhood vaccination schedule through the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine.<\/p>\n

Children are offered two doses: the first at 12 months and the second at 18 months, protecting against all four viruses.<\/p>\n

A catch-up programme is also being introduced for older children who may have missed out on protection.<\/p>\n

From 1 November 2026, children born between 1 January 2020 and 31 August 2022 will be eligible for a single catch-up dose if they have not previously had chickenpox or received two doses of a varicella vaccine.
The programme will run until 31 March 2028.<\/p>\n

Parents urged to check their children\u2019s vaccinations<\/p>\n

Health officials are encouraging parents to ensure their children receive the vaccine<\/a> when invited, stressing that chickenpox can sometimes lead to serious complications and hospital treatment.<\/p>\n

While babies under 12 months are not routinely offered the vaccine because their immune response may not be strong enough, vaccinating eligible older children helps reduce the spread of infection and provides indirect protection for younger infants.<\/p>\n

The introduction of the MMRV vaccine marks an important step in protecting children against four preventable illnesses, reducing the risk of serious complications and helping to keep families and communities safer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image: \u00a9South_agency | iStock New figures reveal the significant impact of chickenpox on children, as health officials urge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[24822,103,61,60,782,64425],"class_list":["post-670151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-child-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nhs","tag-vaccinations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}