Children will be offered a chickenpox vaccine for free on the NHS from next year.
Around half a million children each year could be given the free jab during routine GP appointments from January 2026.
The government says their plans will ‘raise the healthiest generation ever’, just as new data shows not a single childhood vaccine met the crucial uptake target needed to prevent the spread of diseases.
The chickenpox, or varicella jab, will form part of a new combined MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella and varicella) vaccine.
Parents who want to give it to their child now must fork out £150 for it at private clinics and pharmacies.
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What are the symptoms of Chickenpox?
Chickenpox is a common childhood illness and is usually mild.
The main symptom is an itchy, spotty rash over the body, but before this appears children may have a high temperature, a loss of appetite, and may feel generally unwell.
Chickenpox usually gets better on its own within one to two weeks, although some children can develop complications such as bacterial infections like group A strep.
In rare cases, the virus can cause swelling of the brain, serious lung inflammation and stroke, sometimes leading to death.
It will now be offered by GPs as part of the routine infant vaccination schedule, eventually replacing the MMR vaccine.
The move hopes to prevent youngsters from getting severe complications from the virus.
Government doctor, Gayatri Amirthalingam called the new plan a ‘life saver’.
The Deputy Director of Immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) added: ‘Most parents probably consider chickenpox to be a common and mild illness, but for some babies, young children and even adults, chickenpox can be very serious, leading to hospital admission and tragically, while rare, it can be fatal.’
The rollout could also help save an estimated £24 million in lost income and productivity caused by parents taking time off to look after kids ill with the disease.
The NHS is expected to save another £15 million in costs from treating the illness.
The World Health Organisation recommends at least 95% of children should receive a vaccine for each illness to achieve herd immunity.
However, none of the main childhood jabs in England reached this target in 2024/25, according to new figures from the UK Health Security Agency.
Only 91.9 per cent of five-year-olds had received one jab of the MMR vaccine, and just 83.9 per cent had received the second.
Both of these figures are at the lowest levels in over a decade.
Uptake of the four-in-one pre-school booster vaccine – which protects against polio, whooping cough, tetanus and diphtheria – is at the lowest since the current data began in 2009.
Just 81.4 per cent of five-year-olds took the injection in 2024/25, lower than 82.7 per cent per centlast year.
Coverage of the six-in-one vaccine and the Hib/MenC jab was also below the 95 per cent target.
The differences in jab rates vary starkly by region.
London had the lowest figure for the number of five-year-olds who received both MMR doses, at 69.6 per cent, while the North East had the highest at 90.2 per cent.
Vaccine expert Dr Mary Ramsay said the low jab uptake puts ‘far too many children… at risk of serious diseases’.
She added: ‘Measles, being the most infectious disease, is the ‘canary in the coalmine’ and a wake-up call that urgent action is needed to stop the very real risk of other diseases re-emerging.’
The chickenpox vaccine will become one of these routine vaccines, just as it already is in a number of countries like Germany, Australia, Canada and the US.
This step was first recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in November 2023.
Health minister Stephen Kinnock said: ‘We’re giving parents the power to protect their children from chickenpox and its serious complications, while keeping them in nursery or the classroom where they belong and preventing parents from scrambling for childcare or having to miss work.
‘This vaccine puts children’s health first and gives working families the support they deserve.’
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