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A House of Lords inquiry committee could be set up next year to investigate why childhood vaccination rates in England are declining.

The committee, proposed by Baroness Wyld, would look at patterns of vaccine uptake, the barriers preventing children being vaccinated and the implications of that for child health and service delivery. The committee would make recommendations to improve uptake.

It would examine societal inequalities which prevent vaccinations reaching certain communities, how misinformation and disinformation impact attitudes towards vaccines and whether the Covid pandemic led to a change in attitudes and behaviours.

The Lords liaison committee, which recommends proposals for new special inquiries, said the inquiry may also look at “the role of key stakeholders such as schools, healthcare professionals and community organisations in providing childhood vaccination”.

National uptake of routine childhood vaccinations has declined since 2013-14, according to the Royal College of Pathologists and none of England’s vaccine programmes reached the World Health Organisation’s target of 95 per cent coverage in 2023-24.

A study in the British Medical Journal last year revealed declining uptake of vaccinations led to an increase in the number of outbreaks, particularly in areas with disadvantaged children.

“Vaccination uptake varies by location and demographic,” the Lords liaison committee said.

“Differences may be observed across local areas and between socioeconomic and socio-cultural groups, indicating that place, mobility, income, education, language, and cultural norms all shape engagement with childhood immunisation.”