The childhood immunisation schedule
The schedule changed on 1 January 2026, and what your child is offered now depends partly on when they were born. Here is the current version, what moved, and the paracetamol advice that hardly anyone is told about in time.
Your child’s own invitation is the authority, not this page.
The schedule is part-way through a transition, and two of the appointments below apply only to children born after a particular date. That is genuinely confusing, and it is not you. If what you have been invited to does not match what you read here, go with the invitation and ring your GP surgery to check. The current schedule is published on GOV.UK.
In short
- Three appointments in the first few months — at 8, 12 and 16 weeks.
- Then one at 1 year, and for younger children a new one at 18 months.
- MMRV has replaced MMR — it protects against chickenpox as well as measles, mumps and rubella.
- The 18-month appointment only applies to children born on or after 1 July 2024. Children born before that do not have one.
- Give paracetamol after the 8 and 12 week appointments. It more than halves the chance of fever from the MenB vaccine, and it is meant to be given before the fever starts.
- Missing one is fixable. There is no cut-off — ring the surgery and catch up.
The schedule, age by age
6-in-1 (1st dose) · MenB (1st dose) · Rotavirus (1st dose, given by mouth)
6-in-1 (2nd dose) · MenB (2nd dose) · Rotavirus (2nd dose)
6-in-1 (3rd dose) · Pneumococcal (1st dose)
Pneumococcal · MenB · MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox)
6-in-1 (4th dose) · MMRV (2nd dose). Children born on or before 30 June 2024 do not have an 18-month appointment.
4-in-1 pre-school booster for every child. Children born before 1 January 2025 also have MMRV at this appointment; those born on or after that date have already had it at 18 months and receive only the booster.
The paracetamol advice
This is the single most practical thing on this page, and a lot of parents only find out afterwards.
Fever is very common after the MenB vaccine when it is given alongside the others at 8 and 12 weeks. UKHSA guidance is to give paracetamol preventatively rather than waiting to see — it reduces the chance of fever by more than half.
What the guidance says
- After both the 8-week and the 12-week appointment, a total of 3 doses of infant paracetamol
- 2.5ml of infant paracetamol suspension (120mg/5ml) per dose
- First dose as soon as possible after the vaccination — not once a temperature appears
- Second dose 4 to 6 hours later, third dose 4 to 6 hours after that
- At least 4 hours between doses, and no more than 4 doses in 24 hours
Not needed at the 1 year appointment. By 12 months the risk of fever from MenB is no different to the other vaccines.
Follow the leaflet and the label, not this page.
The doses above are the published UKHSA advice for the MenB appointments, but your nurse will give you the leaflet on the day and the bottle carries its own instructions. If your baby was premature, is small for their age, or takes other medicines, ask the nurse before you give anything. Buy the paracetamol before the appointment — the first dose is meant to be given straight afterwards, and nobody wants to be finding a chemist with an unhappy baby.
What changed, and why it is confusing
Several things moved at once, which is why advice from even a year ago no longer matches.
- MMRV replaced MMR. The vaccine now also protects against chickenpox (varicella).
- A new appointment at 18 months was introduced, carrying a fourth dose of the 6-in-1 and the second MMRV dose.
- The second MMRV dose moved earlier — from 3 years 4 months to 18 months — for the children the new appointment applies to.
- Hib/MenC at one year was withdrawn, its protection covered by the extra 6-in-1 dose.
- MenB’s second dose moved from 16 weeks to 12 weeks, and the first pneumococcal dose moved from 12 weeks to 16 weeks.
The reason it depends on date of birth is simply that children already part-way through the old schedule could not be moved onto the new one mid-stream. So there is a transition period in which two children of different ages are legitimately on different schedules. It sorts itself out over the next few years, and in the meantime your invitation letter is the thing to trust.
What each one protects against
- 6-in-1 — diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, Hib and hepatitis B.
- MenB — meningococcal group B, a major cause of meningitis and sepsis in babies.
- Rotavirus — a common cause of severe diarrhoea and vomiting in small children. Given as drops by mouth, not an injection.
- Pneumococcal (PCV) — pneumococcal infections including some pneumonia and meningitis.
- MMRV — measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox.
- 4-in-1 pre-school booster — tops up diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio before school.
If you have missed one
This happens constantly — illness, moving house, a letter that never arrived, a hard year. It is fixable and nobody will be cross with you.
- There is no age cut-off for catching up. Ring your GP surgery and say your child is behind on their immunisations.
- You do not usually start again from the beginning. They pick up from where your child got to.
- Check the Red Book if you are unsure what they have had. The surgery holds the record too.
- If your child was ill on the day, a minor cough or cold is not usually a reason to delay — but ring and ask rather than simply not going.
What to expect afterwards
A sore leg, a bit of redness where the needle went in, being unsettled or sleepy, and a temperature are all common and usually pass within a day or two. Feeding, cuddles and a cool room are the mainstays.
When a temperature is not just the vaccine
Get medical advice the same day if your baby:
- Is under 3 months with a temperature of 38°C or above
- Has a rash that does not fade when you press a glass against it
- Is very lethargic, floppy or hard to wake
- Has a fever that lasts more than 2 days, or that starts more than 48 hours after the vaccination
Our 111, 999 or health visitor printable covers the wider list. A vaccination does not make a child immune to everything else — if something feels wrong, treat it on its own merits.
Where to go next
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