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Vaccination uptake in Scotland improved in 2025, but “persistent inequality in vaccine uptake linked to deprivation, ethnicity, sex and geography” remains, according to the latest data published by Public Health Scotland.
In its 2025 vaccination and immunisation report, published on 9 June 2026, Public Health Scotland noted that uptake of adult vaccinations varied by ethnicity and rurality, with very remote small towns and very remote rural areas consistently showing the lowest coverage across adult vaccinations.
For the adult flu vaccine in 2025/2026, a difference in coverage of 25.9 percentage points was observed between areas of high and low deprivation, with 41.5% coverage in the most deprived decile and 67.4% coverage in the least, the report added.
The report also highlighted that uptake among teenagers also varied by geography and demographic factors — for example, while human papillomavirus coverage increased overall during the school year 2024/2025, it varied by 21.4 percentage points between the most and least deprived quintiles (62.0% in the most deprived areas and 83.4% in the least).
In addition, coverage was highest in accessible rural areas (75.9%) and lowest in remote small towns (59.5%), a difference of 16.4 percentage points, it said.
The report also noted a similar trend for children in 2025.
“Children living in the most deprived areas have lower overall uptake, tend to receive their immunisations later / take up offers later, and are less likely to complete courses (receive all doses). National-level figures can mask local variation,” the report said.
In response, Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) has called for community pharmacies to be included in national immunisation programmes.
A spokesperson for CPS said: “Given the broad reach of community pharmacies across Scotland in urban and rural areas close to where people work and live, with expert teams on-site, community pharmacies are excellently placed to play a key role in the delivery of the goals and priorities of ‘Scotland’s five-year vaccination and immunisation framework and delivery plan’.
“Through the inclusion of community pharmacy in the strong collaborative whole team working, our teams can contribute to the delivery plan, help reverse declining vaccination uptake rates and deliver improved, equitable care to the citizens of Scotland.”
The vaccination and immunisation framework and delivery plan was published in 2024 with the aim of delivering a successful programme against four key areas, including ensuring equitable access to vaccines, as well as strengthening capacity and capability of the vaccination workforce.
CPS also welcomed the introduction of the vaccine group directions in April 2026, which will allow delegation of tasks, such as preparation and administration of vaccines, to trained staff.
