Landmark chickenpox vaccine rollout begins

A chickenpox vaccine is being rolled out on the NHS for the first time.

It will be offered to youngsters alongside the MMR jab, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella. It's a combo that's long been available to children in other countries, including the US, Canada, and Australia, and the move has been welcomed by health experts.

The UK rollout was recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in 2023, and in England alone hundreds of thousands of kids will be eligible from today. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said it will "make a real difference for children and families".

He said: "While chickenpox can be irritable and difficult for children, it can also be extremely serious and occasionally even fatal. "The great thing about this new vaccine is that it combines the vaccine for chickenpox with MMR, which means that families can access this jab for their children, aged between 12 and 18 months." Who is eligible for the vaccine? Children born on or after 1 January 2025 will be offered two doses of MMRV at 12 months and 18 months.

Those born between 1 July 2024 and 31 December 2024 will be offered one dose at 18 months and another at three years, four months. Children born between 1 September 2022 and 30 June 2024 will be offered one dose at three years, four months.

A single-dose catch-up scheme is also planned for children born between 1 January 2020 and 31 August 2022. NHS England said GPs will be contacting families as part of the routine childhood vaccination programme.

Read more from Sky News:UK snow warnings upgradedSwiss bar fire 'like a horror movie' Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, deputy director of immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency, said the jab "has been shown to be highly effective" in other countries, "with a good safety profile". Dr Claire Fuller, national medical director for NHS England, added: "This is a hugely positive moment for children and their families, providing protection against chickenpox for the first time and adding to the arsenal of routine vaccinations we give to children to safeguard them against serious illnesses." The vaccine will "keep more children safe and in school.