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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent

Chickenpox jabs introduced as experts warn many children in England start school without vaccinations

A medical professional prepares a vaccine shot in the foreground. A young child is out of focus in the background
The target for vaccine uptake among children to achieve herd immunity is 95%, but 2024-25 figures show no childhood vaccine has met this requirement. Photograph: Phanie/Sipa Press/Alamy

England needs to “wake up” to its faltering infant vaccination programme, experts have warned, as it was revealed that one in five children start primary school unprotected from serious infectious diseases.

It comes as the government announces a new vaccination programme for chickenpox from January, meaning that GPs will offer eligible children a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella – the clinical term for chickenpox – as part of the routine infant vaccination schedule.

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