Parents across the UK are questioning the government’s announcement introducing a new jab for children. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, have been met with mixed responses following the news of a new vaccine for children aged 12 to 18 months.
Professor Whitty became a familiar face during the Covid-19 pandemic, appearing in daily televised updates alongside Sir Patrick Vallance – now Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation – and then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. On Friday (August 29), he and the DHSC revealed plans to roll out the jab from January 2026 – a move that has been labelled pointless by some parents.
“We’re launching a chickenpox vaccination programme which will protect around half a million children each year,” the DHSC wrote on X. “From January 2026, eligible children will get an MMRV vaccine to protect against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox. Eligibility will be announced in due course.”
Professor Whitty also took to the social network to discuss the news, stating: “Chickenpox is common. Usually it is just unpleasant, but it can be severe or life threatening. A long established vaccine to prevent it will be offered to all children rather than only those who can pay. Immunity by vaccination is safer than by infection.”
Responding on X, users were split over the announcement, with some recalling how parents previously organised “chicken pox parties” to help build immunity in their youngsters in past decades – demonstrating how harmless they believe the condition to be.
“I think I’ll trust the process,” one person revealed. “I don’t know a single person that suffered badly enough from chickenpox to warrant a vaccine.”
Another penned: “There were chicken pox party’s when I was younger. We all got it, I never met anyone that had it more than once. Bit of calamine, week later cured for life.”
A third agreed: “When I grew up, were encouraged to try and catch chickenpox from a friend or sibling if they were infected (just playing together etc). We all lived. It was pretty harmless.”
However, in some cases, chickenpox can prove dangerous – and even deadly. While the condition often simply causes an unpleasant infection that goes away on its own, it can on some occasions cause more significant complications. Earlier this month, mum Judy Brooks recalled the harrowing time she believed her son, Joshua, would never recover from the ailment 14 years ago.
“He became unresponsive and was rushed to Addenbrooke’s hospital where he was placed on life support and given a CT scan,” she told said. “We were told to prepare for him not making it through the night but somehow he did. Joshua was given intravenous anti-viral medication and diagnosed with varicella-zoster encephalitis.
“It was horrible seeing all the wires and tubes because he was so little and in the early stages we had no idea what was wrong with him. The presence of one persistent spot provided the probable cause and diagnosis of encephalitis – the weeks and months that followed were scary as we realised that things were not right.”
Judy added: “He developed encephalitis – a rare and serious neurological complication which causes inflammation of the brain.” Joshua recovered and was able to go home, but his health problems didn’t stop there – as he suffers from a complex speech and language issues, identified by a paediatric consultant who diagnosed him with a brain injury when he was four.
The government claims that the vaccine programme will “help raise the healthiest generation of children ever, while reducing sick days and time parents take off work”.
It adds: “It will mean kids miss fewer days in nursery and school while parents will not need to take time off work to care for them. Research shows that chickenpox in childhood results in an estimated £24 million in lost income and productivity every year in the UK. The rollout will also save the NHS £15 million a year in costs for treating the common condition.”
Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock, said of the vaccination: “We’re giving parents the power to protect their children from chickenpox and its serious complications, while keeping them in nursery or the classroom where they belong and preventing parents from scrambling for childcare or having to miss work.
“This vaccine puts children’s health first and gives working families the support they deserve. As part of our Plan for Change, we want to give every child the best possible start in life, and this rollout will help to do exactly that.”
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