A radical new scheme will see health visitors deliver vital childhood vaccinations directly to families' homes in England, as official data reveals a deepening crisis in immunisation rates.
NHS Launches Doorstep Jab Pilot to Tackle Falling Uptake
In an exclusive move revealed by the Guardian, a £2 million pilot programme will launch in January, deploying specialist nurses and midwives to administer life-saving jabs. This urgent intervention comes as one in five children now start primary school without essential protection against deadly diseases like measles, polio, and whooping cough.
The initiative targets families who face significant barriers to accessing routine healthcare. Health visitors will focus on households not registered with a GP, or those struggling with travel costs, childcare, language issues, or other obstacles preventing clinic visits.
Twelve pilot areas across five English regions – London, the Midlands, the North-East and Yorkshire, the North-West, and the South-West – will begin the programme in January. If successful, a nationwide rollout is planned for 2027.
Alarming Data Reveals a National Vaccination Crisis
The drive is a direct response to plummeting immunisation rates, which have fallen far below the World Health Organization's 95% herd immunity target for every major childhood vaccine. Analysis of UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data for 2024-25 paints a stark picture:
- Only 91.9% of five-year-olds received one dose of the MMR vaccine, the lowest level since 2010-11.
- Just 83.7% had received both necessary MMR doses, the worst figure since 2009-10.
- Uptake of the four-in-one preschool booster (against polio, whooping cough, tetanus, and diphtheria) was a mere 81.4% among five-year-olds.
- The UK is the worst-performing G7 nation for MMR uptake, with only 89% of children receiving their first jab as of 2024.
The human cost of this shortfall was tragically underscored in July, when a child in Liverpool died after contracting measles – the first such death in the UK in a decade. In Liverpool, only 73% of children are fully vaccinated against measles.
Trusted Health Visitors to Bridge the Gap
Health visitors, who are qualified nurses or midwives specialising in early childhood health, will be trained to safely administer vaccines and have sensitive conversations with parents, including those with concerns about vaccine safety.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting stated: "Every parent deserves the chance to protect their child from preventable diseases... Health visitors are already trusted faces in communities. By allowing them to offer vaccinations, we’re using the relationships and expertise that already exist to reach families who need support most."
He added that the scheme was part of "tackling health inequalities head-on" and building a health service that works for everyone.
Children for the pilot will be identified through a combination of GP records, health visitor notes, and local NHS databases. The initiative launches alongside the introduction of a new chickenpox (varicella) vaccine on the NHS in England from Friday. This jab will form part of a new combined MMRV vaccine, eventually replacing the current MMR offering.
The vaccination push coincides with the NHS facing "extraordinary pressure" from high rates of winter illnesses like flu, though officials report half a million more people have had their flu jab compared to last year.
