Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report 2025 published

The Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report 2025: Infections has been published, outlining major achievements in reducing the risk of once common and feared infections in children and young adults, and setting out remaining risks and opportunities for England and the wider UK. The report describes how the great majority of deaths from infections are now in older people, highlights the need for sustained innovation as infections evolve around current protections, and stresses the importance of maintaining readiness for future epidemics and pandemics.

Melita Gordon, AXA Chair of Vaccinology and Global Health at the Usher Institute, has contributed to this year’s report as co-author of the Vaccines section, bringing expert insight to the analysis of current vaccine successes and the need to sustain high uptake across the population.

The report sets out the essential role of vaccines in providing protection from some of the worst infections and in eliminating or potentially eliminating major diseases in the UK, including polio, cervical cancer and several previously common causes of meningitis, neurological disease and deaths in children. It notes that vaccination rates in the UK remain high by global standards but have been drifting down, and emphasises the importance of reversing this trend to protect both vaccinated individuals and those around them.

Read the full report on the UK Government website

Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2025: infections | GOV.UK