A former chairman of the British Medical Association is calling for the MMR jab to be made compulsory.
Public health expert Sir Sandy Macara believes children should not be able to go to school unless they have first been vaccinated.
Sir Sandy has submitted a motion for debate at the annual BMA conference later this month.
Uptake of the MMR vaccine fell sharply after controversial research wrongly linked it to a raised risk of autism.
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One in four children under five has not had both MMR injections, which are needed to give full protection against measles, mumps and rubella.
As a result there have been measles outbreaks across the country, and experts at the Health Protection Agency now fear a measles epidemic is likely.
Sir Sandy said: "Our attempts to persuade people have failed.
"The suggestion is that we ought to consider making a link which in effect would make it compulsory for children to be immunised if they are to receive the benefit of a free education from the state."
Linking vaccinations to school admission is controversial but common in other countries.
It happens in the US, most of Australia, Spain and Greece.
