Chickenpox jabs will be given for the first time from January under a NHS change. GPs will offer eligible children a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella – the clinical term for chickenpox – as part of the routine infant vaccination schedule.

Prof Helen Bedford, from the UCL Institute of Child Health, said: “The country is facing a serious wake-up call, because if we continue down this path we’re going to see many more children unwell and we’re going to see more deaths.

“Measles, among these other diseases, is incredibly infectious and to keep the disease at bay we really do need much higher levels of uptake than what we’re seeing at the moment.”

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She added: “The other big problem [for vaccin

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