Women’s attitudes to vaccinations during pregnancy survey 2025 findings
Published 11 March 2026
Applies to England
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Background on the survey
Vaccines are offered during pregnancy to protect against infectious diseases that can cause serious illness in women during pregnancy or to newborn babies. Currently in the UK 3 vaccines are offered routinely during pregnancy. Both the whooping cough (pertussis) and the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines are given mainly to protect newborn babies from becoming seriously ill from these infections during the first few months of life. The flu vaccine is offered during the winter months to protect both mother and baby against serious disease.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) designed an online survey to find out what pregnant or recently delivered women living in England think about vaccines in pregnancy. UKHSA commissioned the commercial research organisation, Ipsos UK, to undertake the survey on its behalf.
A total of 800 women aged 18 to 45 years in England took part in the survey, 365 who were pregnant at the time of the survey and 435 who had given birth in the previous 12 months. The survey took place from 9 to 24 July 2025. Further details on the methodology are provided in the accompanying slide deck.
Key findings
Reasons for vaccination
‘To protect my baby’ was a strong motivator, with at least three-quarters of women who had been or were intending to have each vaccination selecting this as one of the most important reasons to do so. Overall, around 60% said receiving advice from a healthcare professional (HCP) was an important reason for accepting maternal vaccination, illustrating the importance of HCP endorsement.
Disease severity
Around 90% of women think that each disease that maternal vaccines protect against could be serious if their babies caught them.
The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for pregnant women, to protect their babies in early infancy, was introduced into the UK programme in 2024. Of all women who took part in the survey, 71% said that RSV could be ‘very serious’ and 21% ‘fairly serious’ if their baby caught it.
Fewer women considered that flu could be ‘very serious’ for their babies (54%) and a further 35% considered it could be ‘fairly serious’.
Information sources
Almost all women (91%) who were currently pregnant or who had given birth in the last 12 months at the time of the survey remembered seeing, hearing or reading something about vaccines for pregnant women during their pregnancy. Most of this information had come from official sources such as HCPs and NHS websites. Midwives (65%) and the NHS leaflets (53%) were the most frequently mentioned sources of information about vaccines in pregnancy.
Of the women who had seen or heard about vaccines in pregnancy, most (68%) reported only seeing or hearing information in favour of vaccines, 24% reported a mixture of information for and against vaccines and 2% reported only seeing or hearing information that was against vaccines.
Trust in sources of vaccine information
Healthcare professionals and the NHS were the most trusted sources of information on maternal vaccines among pregnant or recently delivered women.
When asked to compare different sources of vaccine information:
- midwives were the most trusted source of information about vaccines in pregnancy, with 51% of women including them in their top 3 most trusted sources
- social media was the least trusted source of information about vaccines in pregnancy, with 52% of women including it in their top 3 least trusted sources
Discussions with health professionals
Nearly all women (91%) who took part in the survey said that they had a discussion with an HCP about at least one of the vaccines offered during pregnancy. Flu vaccine was the most often discussed (73%) followed by pertussis (58%) and RSV (47%).
Midwives were the most likely HCP to discuss maternal vaccines with women during their pregnancy. Around 60% of women who said they had a discussion reported that this was with a midwife for each pregnancy vaccine and around a third of women discussed them with a nurse whilst at an ante-natal clinic.
Whilst around 40% of women who had a discussion with a HCP said they were already going to have the vaccine, an additional 40% of women in this group said that they felt more confident about having maternal vaccines following a discussion, again underlining the importance of HCP recommendation.
Conclusions
Midwives have an increasing role in providing vaccine advice in pregnancy. Our survey shows how important this contact is in ensuring women have access to appropriate resources to support their decision making and to help them feel more confident about a decision to accept vaccines during pregnancy. Such findings highlight the value of high-quality training for midwives and other HCPs on the science behind the inclusion of each vaccine in the maternal programme and on communicating with pregnant women to enable them to carry out these conversations confidently.
Resources
Download a slide set of the survey findings.