CHILDHOOD vaccination rates have fallen for the fifth year in a row, NHS figures show.
Coverage in England is below the safe 95 per cent target for every available jab.
Parents’ failure to get their kids immunised is putting classrooms at risk of deadly diseases that have been off the radar for decades.
Uptake of the MMR jab for measles, mumps and rubella is at a shocking 15-year low.
Free NHS vaccines are also offered to protect youngsters from whooping cough, polio, meningitis, tetanus, diphtheria, rotavirus, hepatitis B and flu.
NHS England’s vaccination director, Steve Russell, said: “Too many children are still not fully vaccinated against diseases which cause serious illness but are preventable.”
Health chiefs reckon parents are either not bothering to have young ones vaccinated or being spooked by fake news about jabs that is spread online.
It only takes one case of measles in an unprotected school or nursery for numbers to suddenly surge
Dr Vanessa Saliba
Most are given between the ages of eight weeks and one year old.
NHS figures for England show uptake of the six-in-one vaccine fell from 94 per cent in 2020 to 92 per cent in 2023.
For MMR it has dropped from 93 per cent in 2013 to 89 per cent for two-year-olds and 16 per cent are not fully vaccinated by age five – the lowest for 15 years.
England has had unusual outbreaks of whooping cough and measles in the past two years and in 2022 traces of polio were found in London’s sewers for the first time in decades.
Vaccine uptake is lowest in the capital.
EIGHT WEEKS
12 WEEKS
16 WEEKS
ONE YEAR
TWO TO 15 YEARS
THREE YEARS AND FOUR MONTHS
12 TO 13 YEARS
14 YEARS
65 YEARS
70 to 79 YEARS
Source: The NHS
The NHS estimates that jabs prevent more than 5,000 deaths and 100,000 hospital admissions each year in England.
Dr Vanessa Saliba, of the UK Health Security Agency, said: “Childhood vaccines prevent babies and children from suffering needlessly and can be life-saving.
“It only takes one case of measles to get into a school or nursery where many children are unprotected for numbers to suddenly surge.
“It’s never too late to catch up.”
Steve Russell added: “Vaccinations have been protecting children for decades.”
Public Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said: “Vaccines are our best form of protection against serious illness.
“I urge all parents to take up vaccinations to keep children safe as they return to the classroom or nursery this autumn.”
NHS figures reveal which local areas have the highest and lowest uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at age five.
The list is ordered from high to low with proportion of five-year-olds vaccinated in 2023/24 and (percentage vaccinated in 2022/23):
