Childhood immunisation statistics Scotland
Quarter and year ending 31 December 2025

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides an annual and 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

• Although overall vaccine uptake in Scotland remains high, it has been gradually declining over time. In 2025, trends varied by age measure compared with 2024: uptake at 12 months remained stable, uptake measured at 24 months decreased across all vaccines, and uptake measured at 5 and 6 years increased for most vaccines.

Line chart showing immunisation uptake rates by 12 months of age from 2014 to 2025. In 2025, PCV is highest at 95.1%, followed by 6-in-1 (94.2%), MenB (93.9%), and Rotavirus (92.2%). All show gradual declining trends.

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Immunisation uptake rates by 12 months of age, by calendar year, 2014 to 2025, Scotland

* Children turning 12 months old in the relevant year, e.g. for 2025 this would be children born January-December 2024.

• In 2025, uptake for children aged 12 months was: Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) (95.1%), 6-in-1 (94.2%), MenB (93.9%), Rotavirus (92.2%), with rates similar to 2024.
• In 2025, most children received their booster vaccines by 24 months of age: PCV (92.3%), Hib/MenC (92.1%) and MenB (91.8%), though all three declined compared to 2024.
• The first dose of MMR vaccine is offered between 12 and 13 months, and the second dose from 3 years 4 months. In 2025:
  • 92.1% of children received their first MMR dose by 24 months, rising to 95.4% by age 5. While uptake at 24 months declined from 2024, uptake at 5 years increased.
  • 89.7% received their second dose by age 5, rising to 90.0% by age 6. Uptake at 5 years increased from 2024.
• The 4-in-1 vaccine is offered at 3 years 4 months and provides the booster (4th dose) of protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and polio. In 2025, 90.1% of children received the 4-in-1 booster by age 5, rising to 90.7% by age 6, both representing increases from 2024.
• Children living in the most deprived areas (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile 1) had lower uptake than those living in the least deprived areas (quintile 5). By 12 months, the differences were 5.0, 4.9, 4.0 and 2.6 percentage points for the 6‑in‑1, Rotavirus, MenB and PCV vaccines respectively. By 5 years, the differences were 8.9 percentage points for the second MMR dose and 8.3 percentage points for the 4‑in‑1 booster.
• There was variation in uptake across all vaccines and age measures by ethnicity. For instance, uptake for the MMR vaccine at 24 months ranged from 39.3% (Gypsy/Traveller) to 97.9% (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.
• Vaccine uptake varied by urban rural classification. For example, 4-in-1 uptake among children reaching age 5 was lowest in remote rural areas (87.7%) and highest in accessible rural areas (92.1%), a gap of 4.4 percentage points.

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 was updated on 1 July 2025 and 1 January 2026. These changes are not reflected in this report because the age measures used mean the children included were vaccinated under the previous schedule, even though some may subsequently receive vaccines under the new schedule.

These changes will not be reflected in these statistics until the first children in the affected cohort reach the relevant age reporting measures.

For details, see: Changes from 1 July 2025 and Changes from 1 January 2026.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 23 June 2026.