The MMR vaccine could be offered in supermarkets and town centres under proposals being considered by NHS leaders.

The initiative comes as a major National Audit Office (NAO) report revealed the health service is failing to meet pre-school vaccination targets for six out of seven vital jabs.

The findings suggest that difficulties securing GP appointments and a fragmented system for alerting families to the need for innoculations is fuelling the decline.

Just 86.4 per cent of children now receive the second dose of their MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab by age five, far lower than the 95 per cent needed for so-called “herd immunity”, which keeps diseases at bay.

Meanwhile, the Hib/MenC booster at ages two and five has never exceeded 95 per cent and continues to fall.

Bosses at NHS England are now so worried they have begun looking at ways of incentivising doctors to offer vaccinations in more convenient locations.

It is understood these include a potential framework of cash rewards for those who man pop-up vaccination hubs in supermarkets, to be written into contracts with new local GP groupings called Primary Care Networks.