Measles: Vaccination
(asked on 26th June 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the restoration and maintenance of the UK's measles elimination status; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of current childhood vaccination coverage rates on achieving that objective.
The Measles and rubella elimination UK strategy outlines the system-wide actions across four key pillars needed to achieve and sustain measles and rubella elimination. The strategy is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-and-rubella-elimination-uk-strategy
Key actions underway include:
- bringing forward the second dose of the measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (MMRV) vaccine from three years and four months to a new routine appointment for all children at 18 months of age from 1 January 2026;
- incentivising general practitioners (GPs) to administer childhood vaccinations with an additional £2 supplemental fee for each routine childhood immunisation;
- pilot delivering vaccination, including MMRV, in health visits to pre-school children from underserved groups, providing an opportunity for vaccination to families who struggle to access GP vaccinations, aiming to reduce health inequalities; and
- the National Health Service delivering an MMR/V catch-up campaign from June 2026 to March 2027 targeting unvaccinated children aged 12 months to 11 years.
There is no set timeline for re-establishing elimination status. Achieving this remains a long-term strategic goal that will require consistent, sustained effort rather than short-term interventions.
The World Health Organization target is to achieve at least 95% coverage with two doses of the measles (MMR) vaccine to ensure herd immunity and prevent outbreaks.
Provisional uptake date is available at the following link: