February 06, 2012
Mmr The Facts
MMR - The Facts, Controversies and Opinions
MMR is a triple, three-in-one, vaccine of measles, mumps, and rubella (or German measles) administered in one injection. The MMR vaccine become a standard vaccine given to 12 - 15 months old babies which started back in 1988 and a booster given just before going to school for the first time.
A pregnant woman that contracts rubella during the first 10 weeks is at a 90% risk that her child will have physical and mental defects. Measles is very contagious and is an airborne virus spreading by coughs and sneezes of the infected victim. The risks of brain damage or fatality are amongst the highest for infants to teenagers peaking twice during childhood and in teens.
Even though the 3 vaccines are administered together via the same syringe they come into visible affect at different times; the measles part of the three vaccines can make a child feverish at around the 7-10 day mark and may get a rash that is similar to measles. The affects of Rubella come around in the 14 weeks and about 7 days later children may get mild weaker form of mumps as a result of the mumps aspect of MMR vaccine.
Between 90 - 95 % of patients that get their first dose are successfully vaccinated against measles. The MMR vaccine is recommended by the DoH (Department of Health) and the WHO (World Health Organisation) who have said it has 'an outstanding safety record' but they is controversies that surround the MMR vaccination. Some researchers have concluded that the MMR vaccination has some harmful side affects like Autism, arthritis, epilepsy, encephalitis, and paralysis. They are as many researchers that have concluded that the MMR jab is safe and is for the better of child's immune system. In 2001, Finnish researchers looked over 3 million cases of MMR jab found that they were no link with MMR injection and Autism and bowel disorder. The Danish looked through half a million medical records spanning 8 years and also found not links between Autism and the MMR jab. However, in 2002 scientists reported that found the possibility of a link between the measles virus and Autism, and a rare form of bowel disease. They found the measles virus in the gut of those who found to have the bowel disease. There seems to be a lot of to and fro within the science and research community of whether the MMR jab is safe. MMR is a success in that we see less cases were unborn babies suffer the devastating affects of congenital rubella.
The alternative is to take the 3 vaccine separately, this typically costs about £15 each jab, but not that many doctor carry the procedure out as it the three vaccine are now unlicensed in the UK. This means the three separate vaccines are hard to come by, and although it is unlicensed, does NOT mean that doctors that have them are illegal. They can be imported by a health professional but they must notify the Medical Control Agency (MCA).
The Department of Health recommends against taking the vaccines separately as they would need to be administered months apart and that leaves the child exposed to the possibilities out contracting measles or mumps or rubella. The timetable is like this: measles injection given to a baby at 13 month then at least one and a half months later its time for the mumps then another one and a half months later for the jab for rubella. As you can see they is a considerable gap between the jab, which does leave a baby open for one of the three viruses, but why is the period gap necessary when they are given all together in one syringe (i.e. one injection -as the MMR jab) and that to nearly everyone who is due for this vaccine.
Is it safe for your child? Is it worth taking the potential risks are taking three vaccines separately? Well the debate continues!
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