Qurexa Logo
Qurexa

Trust. Care. Deliver.

Back to Blog & Insights
Health

3,037 children in hospital, and a vaccine catch-up that opens on Sunday

Qurexa Editorial Team30 October 20269 min read 0 0
3,037 children in hospital, and a vaccine catch-up that opens on Sunday

What happened

On 30 October 2026, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published a new report called 'Epidemiology of varicella (chickenpox) in England, 2025'. It pulls together several different NHS and public health record systems to answer one question: how much is chickenpox actually costing children and families in England? The headline figure is 3,037. That is how many under-18s in England were admitted to hospital with chickenpox during 2025. GP records point the same way. More than 15,000 children and young people saw their GP about chickenpox. That count comes from a sample of only around a third of practices in England, so the true number of appointments is higher. Chickenpox also empties classrooms. In a sample of 439 nurseries and primary schools, the report counted 4,117 absences. UKHSA is clear that every one of these numbers is an undercount. Most children with chickenpox are looked after at home. They never see a doctor, so they are never counted. The timing of the report is not an accident. A free NHS catch-up vaccination programme opens on 1 November 2026, the day after this report came out. Dr Gavin Dabrera, a Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA, said "Chickenpox might seem like a mild illness that children simply have to get through". He added: "No parent wants to see their children needlessly suffering in hospital."

Why this matters

Chickenpox has a reputation in Britain as a rite of passage. An itchy week, some calamine lotion, then back to school. For most children, that is roughly what happens, and this report does not say otherwise. But 'most' is not 'all'. Chickenpox infects very large numbers of children every year, so even a small share of cases going wrong adds up to thousands of hospital beds. The complications are the reason. Chickenpox can lead to infected skin where spots have been scratched, chest infections, and dehydration. Rarely, it can cause swelling of the brain. Then there is the knock-on cost at home. The NHS advises keeping a child off school or nursery until all the spots have scabbed over, which is usually about five days after they first appear. Someone has to be there for those five days. For a single parent, or a family where both parents work shifts, that is not a small ask. It also spreads before you know anything is wrong. A child is infectious from about two days before the first spot shows up. And for some people chickenpox is genuinely dangerous rather than annoying: the NHS lists newborn babies, anyone who is pregnant, and anyone with a weakened immune system. Until January 2026, there was no routine NHS chickenpox vaccine for children in England. That has changed. This report is part of the evidence behind the change, and a nudge to use what is now on offer.

What the evidence actually says

These are the figures the report gives, for England in 2025: - 3,037 hospital admissions for chickenpox among under-18s. - More than 15,000 GP consultations among under-18s, from a sample of roughly a third of practices. - More than 70% of the clinical chickenpox reports sent to UKHSA Health Protection Teams were children aged five and under. - 4,117 absences across a sample of 439 nurseries and primary schools. The report also found hospitalisation rates were highest in the very youngest children: 5.8 per 100,000 among babies under one year old, against 2.3 per 100,000 among one to four year olds. That is more than double. A caution on that. Those rates come from a different counting system to the 3,037 total, so the figures in this report are not all measuring the same thing and should not be added together or compared directly. The pattern is the part to trust: the younger the child, the worse chickenpox tends to go. Now the vaccine. From 1 January 2026, protection against chickenpox was added to the routine childhood schedule in England. It comes in a combined jab called MMRV, which covers measles, mumps, rubella and varicella. Varicella is the medical name for chickenpox. Children are offered two doses, at 12 months and at 18 months, alongside their other routine jabs, free on the NHS. Babies under 12 months are not routinely vaccinated. The reason is biological, not financial: at that age the vaccine may not produce a strong enough immune response. They are protected indirectly instead, because the older children around them have been vaccinated and are less likely to bring chickenpox home. So the under-ones, hospitalised at the highest rate in this report, are the one group who cannot be protected directly. They depend on everybody else. One thing the report does not claim is that the vaccine has already brought these numbers down. The 2025 data is from before the programme started. It is a baseline, so the effect of the vaccine can be measured against it in years to come.

Qurexa perspective

We should be straight about where we do and do not fit into this story. Qurexa does not give vaccinations. Chickenpox and MMRV jabs are given at GP practices, not at pharmacy counters, so your surgery is the place to ring. Where we do see the effects is the week afterwards. A house with an infectious child in it should not be out doing the weekly shop or queueing to collect a prescription. But staying home only works if someone can still get the essentials in. That is the honest connection: prescription delivery and grocery delivery to the door, across Lincolnshire, so that following the NHS advice to stay at home does not mean going without. There is one point where we would rather you did not come to us first. If someone in your household is pregnant, has a newborn baby, or has a weakened immune system, and chickenpox appears in the house, phone your GP or NHS 111 the same day. Do not wait, and please phone rather than turning up at a counter to ask. That is advice we would give whether or not you ever order anything from us.

Practical advice

**If you have young children** 1. Check your child's date of birth. Children born on or after 1 September 2022 are covered by the routine programme: two MMRV doses, at 12 months and 18 months. Go to the appointments you are offered. 2. Children born between 1 January 2020 and 31 August 2022 are the catch-up group. From 1 November 2026, they can have one free MMRV dose at their GP practice, if they have not already had chickenpox. The programme runs until 31 March 2028. 3. If your child has already had chickenpox, they are not in the catch-up group. They already have some natural protection. 4. Do not wait for a letter. Practices will be contacting eligible families, but you can ring and ask whether your child qualifies. 5. Worth knowing this week: some GP practice websites in England and Wales went offline after their supplier, Silicon Practice, entered administration. NHS England says that if your practice website is unavailable, contact the practice by phone or in person as usual. **If your child has chickenpox right now** 6. Keep them off school or nursery until all the spots have scabbed over, usually around five days after the rash starts. 7. Paracetamol can be used for pain and discomfort. Do not give ibuprofen unless a doctor has told you to, because the NHS warns it may cause serious skin infections in chickenpox. Never give aspirin to a child under 16. Encourage plenty of fluids, and keep fingernails short. 8. Phone your GP rather than walking in if you are not sure it is chickenpox, and say on the phone that you think it might be, so staff can keep other patients safe. 9. Contact NHS 111 straight away if symptoms get worse, if a child shows signs of dehydration, or if a newborn has symptoms or has been near someone with chickenpox. For any child under five you are worried about, 111 can advise. 10. Keep the household away from newborn babies, anyone pregnant, and anyone with a weakened immune system until the spots have scabbed.

What to know

Chickenpox is usually mild, and nothing in this report changes that. What it does is put a number on the exception: 3,037 children in England spent time in hospital with it last year, and the babies too young to be vaccinated were hospitalised at more than twice the rate of toddlers. A free vaccine is now part of the routine childhood schedule, and from 1 November 2026 there is a catch-up dose for children born between January 2020 and August 2022 who missed out. That window closes on 31 March 2028. If your child falls in that group, a phone call to your GP practice is the whole job. If they have already had chickenpox, there is nothing to do. And if chickenpox is in the house today, the NHS advice is simple: paracetamol not ibuprofen, plenty of fluids, five days at home from when the rash starts, and a phone call rather than a visit if you need to speak to your surgery. Sources: UK Health Security Agency, 'New report shows toll of Chickenpox with over 3,000 infants hospitalised last year', 30 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-report-shows-toll-of-chickenpox-with-over-3000-infants-hospitalised-last-year | UK Health Security Agency, 'Varicella epidemiological reports: Epidemiology of varicella (chickenpox) in England, 2025', 30 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/varicella-epidemiological-reports | NHS, 'Chickenpox', https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chickenpox/ | NHS, 'Chickenpox vaccine', https://www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/chickenpox-vaccine/ | NHS England South West, 'Boost your immunity' (MMRV catch-up programme), https://www.england.nhs.uk/south/our-work/stay-well/boost-your-immunity/ | ITV News, 'Hundreds of NHS websites offline after provider goes into administration without warning', 28 October 2026, https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-28/hundreds-of-nhs-websites-offline-after-provider-goes-into-administration This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist, health visitor or other qualified healthcare professional. If you are worried about a child who is unwell, contact your GP practice or NHS 111.

#chickenpox#MMRV vaccine#UKHSA#child health#childhood vaccination#NHS

Related articles