Vaccinations for babies and pre-school children

Yes – research from around the world shows that immunisation is the safest and most effective way to protect your child’s health.

While you may come across some anti-vaccine stories, especially on social media, these often lack scientific evidence and can be misleading. Relying on this information could put your child at risk of a serious illness.

For accurate, up-to-date vaccine and health information refer to trusted sources, like the NHS or the World Health Organization (WHO).

Vaccinations protect babies and children against diseases, including:

• • Measles
  • Mumps
  • Rubella
  • Varicella (chickenpox)
  • Polio
  • Rotavirus
  • Hepatitis B
  • Whooping cough
  • Meningitis
  • Diphtheria
  • Tetanus
  • Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)
  • Pneumonia

Your GP surgery will usually contact you about your child’s childhood vaccinations. This will usually be by letter, text message, phone call or email.

To find out what vaccinations are due when, you can visit the vaccine schedule on the NHS website.

It’s important that vaccines are given on time for the best protection, but if you or your child missed a vaccine, contact your GP to catch up.

Please bring your Red Book to your vaccination appointment as it’s a good way to keep track of which vaccinations your child has had.

Whooping cough (pertussis) is an infection of the lungs and breathing tubes. It spreads very easily and can be serious. It’s important for babies, children and anyone who’s pregnant to get vaccinated against it.

For more information about whooping cough visit the NHS website.

Measles is caused by a virus that spreads very easily. Symptoms include high fever, rash, sore red eyes, cough and runny nose. Children can be off school for 10 days and 1 in 5 people with measles will be admitted to hospital.

Complications include chest infections, fits, encephalitis (infection of the brain) and brain damage. It is more severe in babies under one year old, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems. Around 1 in 5,000 people who catch measles die from the complications. For more information about measles visit the NHS website.

You can read about measles in this leaflet. There’s also a easy read version for anyone who might find it useful.

Mumps is caused by a virus. Symptoms include fever, headache and painful, swollen glands in the face, neck and jaw.

Complications include hearing loss, meningitis, encephalitis, and painful swelling of the testicles and ovaries. For more information about mumps visit the NHS website.

Rubella is caused by a virus. In children it is usually mild and can cause a rash, swollen glands and a sore throat.

If pregnant women catch rubella it can affect their unborn baby, causing serious damage to their sight, hearing, heart and brain. For more information about rubella visit the NHS website.

Chickenpox is a very infectious disease caused by the varicella zoster virus. It is very common in young children and causes a fever and an itchy, spotty rash. These spots can be painful and appear all over the body.

Some children have serious complications including chest infection, fits, and encephalitis. It is more severe in adults, especially pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems. For more information about chickenpox visit the NHS website.

Later in life, the chickenpox virus can re-activate and cause a painful rash. This is called shingles. It is worse in older people and in people with weakened immune systems. For more information about shingles visit the NHS website.

From January 2026, all children are offered a combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine instead of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) as part of the childhood routine 2-dose vaccination schedule.

Dose 1 will be offered at one year of age and dose 2 will be brought forward from 3 years 4 months to the new 18-month appointment.

The MMRV vaccine contains weakened versions of living measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox viruses. Because these viruses are weakened, they do not spread easily to other people.

For information on vaccinations and when to have them visit the NHS website.

For more information about the MMRV vaccine visit the NHS website.

MMRV is a simple way to protect your child against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox. Since MMR vaccine was introduced in 1988, cases of measles, mumps and rubella have all fallen to extremely low levels. MMRV offers the same protection as MMR, but adds protection against chickenpox.

In countries where children already get a chickenpox vaccine, cases of chickenpox have also fallen dramatically. MMRV has been used for over 10 years in several countries and has a good safety record.

For more information about the MMRV vaccine visit the NHS website.

Protection against measles, mumps and rubella starts within 2 weeks of having the MMRV vaccine. Protection against chickenpox starts within 3 weeks of having the vaccine.

After 2 doses:

• around 99% of children will be protected against measles and rubella
• around 97% of children will be protected against chickenpox
• around 88% of children will be protected against mumps.

If your child gets mumps after being vaccinated, the symptoms will usually be much milder.

There are 2 MMRV vaccines which work equally well: ProQuad and Priorix Tetra. ProQuad contains porcine gelatine (gelatine from pigs) and Priorix Tetra does not.

If you want your child to have the vaccine without gelatine, talk to your practice nurse or GP.