Measles with MMR

[tamirra]

Hi, can anybody please tell me if a child has had the MMR is the measles illness less intense than if you did not have the jab. Thank you

[LazyGun]

The MMR vaccine essentially comes in 2 parts - the first injection at 14 months or so, the second at around 4-6 years of age. It is thought that the first injection alone is around 95% effective - in other words,only 1/20 children, when exposed to the virus, would contract it. Once the child has had the second injection, the level of protection offered raises to around 98-99% - so now only 1-2 kids in every 100 would risk contracting measles when exposed to the virus.

So the vaccine doesnt necessarily reduce the symptoms of measles ( although it might - not many studies on this particular issue tbh) - it massively reduces the risk of the child contracting measles at all in the first place.

Measles is highly contagious, so anyone exposed is very likely to contract the virus if they are unimmunized.

[tamirra]

Thank you Lazygun, i had it as a child, can you catch it again?

[LazyGun]

It is not impossible tamirra, but it is extremely unlikely. Should you have some form of immune suppression later in life, it is possible to catch measles at that point - but you could consider yourself exceptionally unlucky should that happen.

[tamirra]

Thank you very much.

[Whurlywheep]

Generally yes, the illness is much milder and the complications fewer. This is why measles is included in the vaccine programme. Measles is a notifiable disease because of the severity of complications.