Leading scientists answer the vaccine questions people are searching for as childhood uptake remains below target
01 October 2026Leading scientists have answered some of the most commonly searched questions about vaccines, as figures show childhood vaccination coverage in England remains below target. Fewer than 84% of five-year-olds in England have received both doses of MMR vaccine, well short of the 95% target set by the World Health Organization to prevent measles spreading.
The latest UK Health Security Agency figures show vaccine uptake among five-year-olds has levelled off after a decade of slow decline. But coverage among one- and two-year-olds fell again this year across all vaccines, and London continues to have the lowest coverage of any English region.
In response, ºìÌÒÊÓƵ and have brought together world leading vaccine scientists to answer the questions people are searching for online about vaccines. The joint Q&A was developed in response to research into common internet searches and questions raised by public contributors, alongside input from vaccine experts. It addresses questions about vaccine safety and effectiveness, including whether vaccines are safe for babies and during pregnancy, whether they can affect fertility or cause autism, and why booster vaccinations are sometimes needed.
The Q&A has also been designed with the way people increasingly access information online in mind, including through generative AI tools. Building on the Academy of Medical Sciences’ wider work on health information, misinformation and artificial intelligence, the resource is structured to help ensure trusted, evidence-based answers are more easily found when people search for information about vaccines.
The need for reliable information has been highlighted by new polling from Ipsos for the Academy. Nearly one in five UK adults (17%) say they have been personally affected by misleading health information, and over half (56%) of respondents identified vaccines and immunisations as an area where misleading or false information has the most serious impact.
Professor Sir Andy Pollard FMedSci FRS, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford and one of the experts who put the Q&A together, said: “Vaccines are estimated to prevent between 3.5 and 5 million deaths worldwide every year. Despite the success of programmes, vaccination rates are dropping in the UK and some other countries. Our goal in producing this content is to provide people who may have concerns about getting a vaccine, with the best available scientific evidence to allow them to make informed decisions for their own and the public good.”
Professor Wendy Barclay CBE FMedSci, Professor of Virology at Imperial College London and Q&A co-author, said: “Questions about vaccines are entirely understandable, particularly when people are making decisions during pregnancy, for their children or as they grow older. But it can be difficult to distinguish reliable evidence from information that is confusing and even misleading. We want people to have straightforward, scientifically robust answers about both the benefits and potential risks of vaccination, so that they can make informed decisions for themselves, their families and their communities.”
References
Vaccination coverage figures are from the UK Health Security Agency’s annual COVER report for 2025 to 2026, published on 27 August 2026, and cover England only: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cover-of-vaccination-evaluated-rapidly-cover-programme-april-2025-to-march-2026/vaccination-coverage-statistics-for-children-aged-up-to-5-years-england-cover-programme-report-april-2025-to-march-2026
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) target for MMR coverage is 95%. The estimate that vaccines prevent between 3.5 and 5 million deaths worldwide each year is also from the WHO.
The Ipsos survey was conducted among 2,401 UK adults aged 16 and over between 30 April and 7 May 2026. Multiple answers were permitted for the question on areas where misleading or false health information has the most serious impact.