Thousands of children returned to primary school this week without full protection against a number of serious diseases
Merseyside classrooms are facing a “vaccine crisis” (Image: PA)
Merseyside classrooms are facing a “vaccine crisis” as figures show not a single childhood jab met the target needed to prevent diseases spreading among young people. Thousands of children returned to primary school this week without full protection against a number of serious diseases.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that at least 95% of children should receive vaccine doses for each illness to achieve herd immunity. However, according to UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures, none of the main childhood vaccines in England hit this target in 2024/25. Vaccine coverage also varies widely across the nation.
In our area, Liverpool had the lowest rates across all five main childhood vaccinations. Just three in four Liverpool children had received both doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) jab by their fifth birthday (75.5%), and only 88.7% had received the six-in-one vaccine, which protects against illnesses including whooping cough.
Outside London, only Nottingham, Manchester and Birmingham had lower vaccine rates. In contrast, Wirral consistently had the highest rates, with 89% of children protected by both MMR jabs by age five and 96.1% receiving the six-in-one jab.
Wirral was one of the few areas that met the 95% target rate for any childhood vaccination, but the average across our area for the six-in-one jab was below target (93.7%).
Using our interactive map, you can see rates for the five main vaccines children should have received by their fifth birthday where you live.
The government has insisted that childhood vaccination remains a “priority”.
Health minister Ashley Dalton was quizzed about a vaccination “crisis” when she appeared before MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee.
Labour MP Danny Beales said: “We’ve got a major problem with vaccination rates – we’re having outbreaks of measles in Merseyside, a child died of whooping cough in the last few days.”
He added: “I personally say that we’re in a vaccination crisis in this country amongst children and pregnant women, which is leading to some of the tragic instances that we’re seeing.”
Ms Dalton said a “lack of access” was preventing people from taking up the offer of a jab, which is why health visitors will be able to deliver vaccinations in pilot schemes from 2026.
Ms Dalton also highlighted incentives for GPs to deliver vaccines and said that parents can be asked about them during other routine GP appointments.
She said: “Vaccination remains a real priority for the Department, and we are working to increase uptake. And in order to do that, we have to understand what the barriers are, and we’ve been doing an awful lot of work to do that.”
But vaccine hesitancy, often fuelled by misinformation online, has also been spreading across the globe.
The latest figures show that 91.9% of five-year-olds in England had received one dose of the MMR vaccine as of March, unchanged from 2023/24 and the lowest level since 2010/11.
Just 83.7% of five-year-olds had received both MMR doses, down from 83.9% and the lowest level since 2009/10.
Coverage for the Hib/MenC vaccine, which protects against haemophilus influenzae type B and meningitis C, stood at 88.9% for children in England aged five, down from 89.4% in 2023/24 and the lowest level since 2011/12.
Meanwhile, uptake of the four-in-one pre-school booster vaccine – which protects against polio, whooping cough, tetanus and diphtheria – stood at just 81.4% among five-year-olds in England in 2024/25.
This is down from 82.7% the previous year and the lowest since current records began in 2009/10.
The proportion of five-year-olds covered by the six-in-one vaccine did rise slightly, from 92.6% in 2023/24 to 92.8% in 2024/25.
The jab protects against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, disease caused by haemophilus influenzae type B, and hepatitis B.
However, coverage of the six-in-one vaccine at age five (formerly the five-in-one jab) met the 95% target for 10 years in a row up until 2020/21, before rates began to slip.