The UK is set to become the first country in the world to cut a key childhood vaccine from three to two doses in a move that experts hope will encourage poorer countries to eventually follow suit.

Last July a government advisory group, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), recommended that the dosing schedule for the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) be reduced from three to two doses after a Lancet Infectious Diseases study showed that the vaccine was just as effective and safe when given in two shots.

The Department of Health and Social Care says that due to the "excellent effectiveness" of the vaccine and high vaccine coverage the UK has good control of pneumococcal disease.

The vaccine, which protects against diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis and some types of meningitis, is currently given in the UK to babies at two and four months of age followed by a booster at 13 months.

The new guidance means that the vaccine will now be given at 12 weeks and one year of age although no date has been set for the change.