About the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine

Few parents today will remember the relatively common complications and even deaths caused by measles, or the potentially devastating after effects of mumps or rubella that were common a few decades ago before the introduction of vaccines against these three diseases.

Fortunately the vast majority of children in the UK are now protected against measles, mumps and rubella. A huge amount of research worldwide has overwhelmingly confirmed the safety of the MMR vaccine, and has led to a return in public confidence following scare stories raised by one doctor in the late 90s. Across the UK, 86% of children now receive MMR.

So measles, mumps and rubella aren’t all mild childhood diseases?

No. Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, the disease resulted in 85 deaths a year. By the age of 10, 95 per cent of children had contracted measles. One in 13 developed complications including pneumonia, middle ear infections and convulsions and one in 70 had to be admitted to hospital.

The mumps vaccine was introduced in 1988. Until then, it was the most common form of viral meningitis affecting one in 400 who got the disease. Other complications include deafness and inflammation of the ovaries or testes.

Rubella is a very mild disease in childhood, but if a woman in the first four months of pregnancy comes into contact with the disease, the effects on her unborn child can be devastating.

As levels of these diseases have dropped, surely there’s little chance of my child catching them and no need to have the MMR vaccine?

Measles in particular is highly infectious and to prevent outbreaks of the disease at least 95 per cent of children need to be vaccinated. These diseases do re-emerge when vaccination rates drop. In 2006, we saw the highest number of confirmed cases in England and Wales for ten years.

If parents choose not to have their children vaccinated, general levels of immunity fall and children face real risks - particularly those who cannot have immunisations because their immune system is already compromised, for instance those with leukaemia. Sadly in 2006 a teenager who could not have MMR died from measles, the first death from the disease in this country in 14 years.

How do we know the vaccine is really safe?

No vaccine is ever 100 per cent safe. Most reactions are mild, but more serious reactions can occasionally occur. The risk of having a convulsion (fit) 7-11 days after the MMR vaccine is about 1 in 3,000. Compare this though to the risk of convulsions with the disease itself which is 1 in 100 cases.

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