Skip to main content

Cookies on UKHSA data dashboard

We use some essential cookies to make this service work.

We'd like to set additional cookies so we can remember your settings, understand how people use the service and make improvements.

View cookies
UKHSA data dashboard

BetaThis is a new service - your feedback will help us to improve it.

BackEntry title:

MenB booster vaccine coverage by year

Last updated on Thursday, 28 August 2025 at 03:01pm

Summary

Topic
MenB-booster
Category
coverage
API name
MenB-booster_coverage_coverageByYear

Rationale

This metric is based on COVER official statistics to monitor the percentage of eligible children who received the booster dose of MenB vaccine by 24 months of age.

This can be used as an indicator for protection against meningococcal group B disease and progress towards the WHO target of 95%.

Methodology

In England, local Child Health Information Systems (CHIS) and GP systems submit aggregate figures to the UKHSA. A CHIS is a computerised clinical record system which supports a range of health promotion and prevention activities including screening and immunisation for children. Children are entered onto the local CHIS at birth or when they move into the upper-tier local authority.

Routine data submissions are made through the NHS Digital Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS) and extracted by UKHSA. The submissions include aggregates figures at the local authority level for the number of children eligible for each vaccine as well as the number of children who have received each vaccine.

The MenB vaccine is one of the routine childhood immunisations and is administered according to the routine immunisation schedule. Vaccine coverage is calculated for each upper-tier local authority as the percentage of eligible children in that local authority that have received the vaccine. Coverage is calculated for children who have been immunised by 24 months of age. Figures are further aggregated to calculate coverage for Regions and for England.

In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, health boards submit data to the UKHSA. The UKHSA quality assures and publishes this data annually. Numbers for the Four Nations are combined to give overall coverage for the United Kingdom.

Further information can found in the change specification document in the information standard for the COVER programme.

Caveats

Data reflects MenB booster vaccination coverage by 24 months of age, not the age at vaccination.

Annual immunisation coverage is calculated and reported by financial year (1 April to 31 March). In time series data, coverage statistics for a given year are tied to the end of respective financial year. For example, annual MenB coverage reported for the 2022-2023 is represented by the date 31 March 2023.

Disclosure controls are applied by combining pairs of local authorities where eligible populations are small. On a map, the first local authority in the pair will appear with no data and the second local authority in the pair will present data for both local authorities.

  • Numbers for the Isles of Scilly are combined with and reported as Cornwall.
  • Numbers for the City of London are combined with and reported as Hackney.
  • Numbers for Rutland are combined with and reported as Leicestershire.

In 2021, Cumbria became two distinct local authorities: Cumberland, and Westmorland and Furness. However, these areas submit aggregated vaccination data together as ‘Cumbria’. On a map, combined data is presented for both local authorities.

System changes in 14 local authorities in London earlier this year and changes to the way multiple dose courses are calculated mean that the coverage in London for some vaccines, particularly the pre-school 4-in-1 booster and MMR2 is likely to be underestimated. Reported falls in coverage in these vaccines in the current year should not be used in isolation for local vaccination performance management or to direct public health action.

Back to top