The South West has the highest childhood vaccination coverage in England across every measure reported in new provisional data published last week by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), offering encouraging signs as the region leads the way in protecting children against serious diseases.
New figures for April 2026 show the South West outperforming all other commissioning regions on all six reported vaccines, including meningitis B (MenB), measles, chickenpox, diphtheria, tetanus, polio and rotavirus.
Most notably, coverage of the first dose of the new MMRV vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, reached 83.0% in the South West for children aged 15 months, compared to a national average of 78.8%. Within the region, Dorset stood out as the highest-performing local authority in the whole of England, with MMRV first dose coverage of 93.9%.
The South West also recorded the highest regional coverage for:
- MenB dose 2 (children aged 6 months): 93.2%, compared to the national average of 89.8%
- MenB dose 3 (children aged 18 months): 88.8%, against a national average of 83.8%
- 6-in-1 dose 3 (children aged 6 months): 89.6%, against a national average of 85.0%
- Rotavirus dose 2 (children aged 6 months): 89.5%, against a national average of 86.7%
- dTaP/IPV booster (children aged 5): 88.3%, compared to a national average of 83.3%
The data provides early evidence of the positive impact of recent changes (following JCVI advice) to the routine childhood immunisation schedule, which moved the second MenB dose from 16 weeks to 12 weeks of age from June 2025, meaning babies are now protected against meningococcal B disease a full month earlier in life. A new 18-month appointment was also introduced from January 2026, offering the MMRV vaccine alongside other boosters.
The South West recorded 7 laboratory-confirmed measles cases between 1 January and 22 June 2026. While the region's low measles case count reflects its strong vaccination record, nationally, however, there remains more to do. During the same period, 801 cases were confirmed (compared to 959 cases for the whole of 2025), and two children have tragically lost their lives to the disease this year. The majority of cases (60%) were in children aged 10 and under.
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