MMR Vaccination in Children

The MMR vaccine is well-known as an immunization that children have to receive before they start school. It is a vaccine that works to prevent three diseases: measles, mumps and rubella. These diseases are airborne diseases, meaning that your child can catch them by breathing in infected droplets. With the vaccine, many children can be spared these diseases, and their lives may be saved as well.

Dosage

• Babies usually get their first MMR shot when they are between the ages of 12 and 15 months. A second dose follows when they are between 4 and 6 years old. They might get the MMR vaccine at the same time as they are receiving other immunizations also.

Contraindications

• If your child is sick at the time she is supposed to receive the MMR shot, it would be wise to wait until she's better, especially if she has a fever. Any child who is allergic to gelatin or neomycin or has had a bad reaction to another MMR vaccine should definitely not receive it. It's wise to consult with your child's doctor if your child has any kind of disease that suppresses his immune system, such as HIV/AIDS or cancer (including children receiving treatments for cancer). If he has problems with his blood or has had a blood transfusion, it's also wise to consult with his doctor beforehand.

Possible Side Effects

• As with any medication, the MMR vaccine can cause side effects in your child. Your child may have a fever afterward or a rash, especially around the site where the injection was given. The site may also be very tender to the touch. Neck or facial glands may become swollen. More serious side effects that should be reported or treated right away are convulsions, joint pain or blood disorders.
  Doctors aren't sure if the following problems are caused by the MMR vaccine because they do not happen very often. They include loss of hearing, damage to the brain and loss of consciousness. Of course, the patient may be allergic to the vaccine, which can result in signs of that allergy, such as trouble breathing, racing heart or hives.

Considerations

• There have been many studies done on the relationship between the MMR vaccine and a possible link to autism. The CDC says that it does not cause autism, but many parents are not convinced. It was thought that thimerosal might be a potential cause, but it has been taken out of all the vaccines that are administered in the United States presently. Many parents of autistic children have raised this question because their children may have started showing the signs of autism after they were given the MMR vaccine, but this theory has not been proven. A proponent of this theory from England, Andrew Wakefield, in 1997, wrote an exposition on this very topic, encouraging the theory that the MMR does indeed cause autism; many parents listened and stopped vaccinating their children, and as a result, the rates of measles infection has gone up in England. The problem was that he never did any actual testing to test his theory out. The theory has still not been proven, as there are many possible causes of autism, including genetic factors.

Conclusion

• As for whether or not your child should receive the MMR vaccine, that is a personal decision. In most cases, though, the vaccine is more beneficial, as your child will likely not have to suffer through a terrible disease that could develop complications.