Government rejects call to overhaul childhood vaccination programme

A committee of MPs has warned that Government rhetoric on childhood vaccination is not matched by its actions.

This week the Government rejected a recommendation from the Health and Social Care Committee to declare the current vaccination strategy ‘a failure’ and develop a new plan focusing on uptake in the early years.

In a report published in January on the first 1,000 days of life, the committee concluded that the Government urgently needs a new strategy to turn around the falling vaccination rates and should aim for 95% coverage throughout England.

The MPs pointed out that the ‘continuing decline’ in childhood vaccination levels since 2012 is ‘a national disgrace’ and that children should not be dying of entirely preventable diseases.

‘The continued failure to effectively grapple with this is a significant and ongoing public health crisis and will lead to increased costs for the health service in the longer term’, the report concluded.

Yet in a response published this week, the Government said the current NHS vaccination strategy ‘sets out a detailed long-term direction for improving vaccine uptake and equity across all communities in England’.

It added that plans for ICBs to have a named executive director responsible for vaccination are now in place; and that dedicated funding has been allocated to ‘support targeted outreach to underserved communities’.

‘We recognise that childhood vaccination rates need to improve and the Government, NHS England and UKHSA are committed to making that happen,’ the response said.

MPs had also called for ‘family hubs’, where parents can get expert advice and support, to be rolled out to more communities ‘where need is greatest’, and they should also offer improved perinatal mental health services to caregivers.  

And they had said the Government must commit to recruit at least 1,000 more health visitors with every parent and infant receiving a minimum of six health visits during the early years.

In its response, the Governments said that ‘as of April 2026’ over 200 new Best Start Family Hubs will open in previously unfunded local authorities.

And by the end of 2028 ‘it will create up to 1,000’ Family Hubs and ‘2,000 network sites’ to extend their reach in local communities.

On health visitors it said the workforce will be strengthened, with further updates to come in the forthcoming 10-Year Workforce Plan

Health and Social Care Committee spokesperson Paulette Hamilton said they supported the ambitious plans to open Family Hubs in hundreds of communities and that it would make a ‘tangible difference’ to families especially in the most deprived areas.

‘But Family Hubs are only one piece of the jigsaw. We remain unconvinced that the Government’s rhetoric about vaccinations being a priority is matched by its actions.

‘A new strategy is needed as the current approach is simply failing to deliver improved vaccination rates and is costing young children their lives.’

She added that the overall response to the report sounds like a can being kicked down the road.

‘We are not given confidence that ministers are acting quickly enough to support health visitors, or that there is any intention to scale up the workforce to a level that will even touch the sides of what’s needed.’

NHS England launched 12 ‘demonstrator sites’ to test new models for delivering vaccinations, including health visitors taking on catch-up jabs for children, as part of the strategy.

‘We are glad to see that pilots for health visitors to deliver vaccinations are making progress,’ Ms Hamilton added.

The new GP contract for 2026/27 includes a change to the incentives for GP practices to make progress on vaccination rates.

QOF targets will be available for practices making progress on vaccination even if they don’t hit national uptake thresholds.