Childhood immunisation statistics Scotland
Quarter ending 30 September 2025

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides a quarterly update of immunisation uptake rates for children in Scotland. Immunisation programmes for children aim to protect the individual child from many serious infectious diseases and prevent the spread of disease in the wider population.

Information is shown for NHS Boards and local authorities covering children at 12 months, 24 months, 5 years and 6 years of age. The data are also broken down by ethnicity and by measures of where children live, including Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) and urban rural classification. These data are available from the Vaccination Surveillance Dashboard.

Guidance on why and when to immunise in Scotland is available via NHS inform, including details of the vaccines offered and the diseases they protect against.

Main points

• Quarterly uptake rates in Scotland have gradually declined over time, although there were some small increases in uptake in the latest quarter ending September 2025. Uptake for children aged 12 months old was: Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) (95.5%), 6-in-1 (94.3%), MenB (94.3%), Rotavirus (92.2%).

A line chart showing percentage uptake of 6-in-1, MenB, PCV and Rotavirus immunisations separately by 12 months of age and by quarter, from quarter ending September 2016 to quarter ending September 2025. Details are provided in the accompanying text.

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Trend in primary immunisation uptake rates by 12 months of age*, by quarter

*Children turning 12 months of age in the relevant quarter e.g. for Jul-Sep 2025 this would be children born during Jul-Sep 2024.

• Most children received their booster vaccines by 24 months of age: Hib/MenC (92.6%), Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) (92.7%) and MenB (92.4%).
• The first dose of Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine is offered between 12 and 13 months old and the second dose at 3 years 4 months old.
  • 92.5% of children had the first dose of MMR vaccine by 24 months of age. This rose to 95.9% for children who had reached age 5.
  • Uptake of the second dose of MMR vaccine by 5 years was 90.6%, rising to 90.9% by age 6 years.

• The 4-in-1 vaccine is offered at 3 years 4 months old and provides the booster dose (4th dose) of protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio. 91.1% of children had the 4-in-1 booster at age 5 years, rising to 91.5% by age 6 years.
• The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) - Scotland’s standard measure of relative deprivation – shows lower uptake for children living in the most deprived quintile compared with those living in the least deprived quintile, with differences of 4.9, 5.4, 2.7, and 3.5 percentage points for 6-in-1, rotavirus, PCV, and MenB vaccines by 12 months of age, and 7.8 and 8.4 percentage points for 4-in-1 and second MMR doses by 5 years of age.
• Similar to previous quarters, there was variation in uptake across all vaccines and age measures by ethnicity. For instance, uptake for the 4-in-1 vaccine at age 5 ranged from 41.7% (Gypsy/Traveller) to 96.9% (Chinese, Scottish Chinese or British Chinese). Ethnicity classifications are based on the Scottish 2022 Census categories. Further work is needed to understand why these disparities occur and to develop strategies to improve vaccine coverage among all ethnic groups.
• There was variation in uptake across all vaccines and age measures by urban rural classification. For example, uptake of the first dose of MMR vaccine amongst children reaching 24 months of age was lowest for children resident in remote rural areas (88.2%) and highest for those living in remote small towns (94.7%).

Background

As a public health measure, immunisations are very effective in reducing the burden of disease. The European Region of the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that on a national basis at least 95% of children are immunised against diseases preventable by immunisation and targeted for elimination or control. These include diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), measles, mumps and rubella.

Rotavirus vaccine should be given within strict age limits, with the first dose before 15 weeks and second dose before 24 weeks of age. These age limits mean that if a child is not immunised with the first dose early enough, due to missed appointments for example, then it may not be possible for them to complete the full 2 dose course before 24 weeks. This explains why uptake of the completed 2 dose course of rotavirus vaccine is slightly lower than completed courses of the other vaccines offered in the first year of life.

The routine childhood immunisation schedule changed for children invited for vaccination in Scotland from 1 July 2025. These changes will not be reflected in these statistics until 2026, when the first children in the affected cohort reach the relevant reporting age measures.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be March 2026.