A one-dose selective MMRV catch-up programme is due to be delivered by general practices between 1 November 2026 and 31 March 2028, as clinic capacity allows. This was agreed as part of the wider introduction of MMRV, and it’s worth getting the eligibility criteria straight now, well ahead of the November start.
One dose of MMRV should be offered to any child aged from three years four months to under six years on 31 December 2025 — in practice, that’s children born on or after 1 January 2020 and on or before 31 August 2022 — who have no history of chickenpox disease or two doses of varicella vaccination.
One detail worth flagging to whoever’s coding and delivering this: there’s no requirement to check history for those who respond. If a parent brings their child in for the catch-up dose, the practice doesn’t need to verify chickenpox or varicella vaccination history before offering it — which should make this more straightforward to deliver than it might first sound.
Worth doing now: identify the cohort of children who fall into this date range on your list, factor the November start into your wider vaccination clinic planning given the 17-month delivery window, and make sure reception and clinical teams know they can offer the dose without needing to chase up history first.