Would I have had MMR as a child? Also question abut 9mo going to France

[PassTheTwiglets]

I'm early 40s - would I have been vaccinated against measles, whether it was an MMR or not? My mum doesn't remember and we can't find any paperwork.

Also, if a 9mo baby was due to go to France before they've had their jabs, could or should she be vaccinated? I am not sure whether the first jab is give at 13 months because that's when it's effective or because it's not safe to give earlier.

No. I think MMR only introduced in the UK in the late 1980s.

You will probably find your GP won't give your 9 month old the MMR. No idea why it is given at 13 mths but there is a big difference developmentally between a 9 mth old and 13 mth old.

unlikely i think that you'd have had measles vaccination. the DOH Green Book (bible for everything immunisation related) here on page 217 says if you were born before 1970 you were likely to have been exposed to the diseases and therefore have natural immunity. I do know that if you had been vaccinated or had the diseases, it won't do any harm if you had another jab 'to be sure' IYKWIM.

I think with the 9 month old, the reason they delay vaccination until 13m is because immunity is kept better after this age (page 216), so while they would prob be happy to give it early (i assume that's what you;re getting at) this one would be ignored with regard to the immunization schedule and your baby would need the one at 13m and preschool too.

hope that helps. might be worth discussing with GP?

the reasons for not giving MMR early isn't to do with development at all, it;s to do with younger children having left over mums antibodies, so not developing their own effectively enough. As the DOH say, its's a 'compromise between risk of disease and level of protection'.

I'm 30 and I was the last year at school NOT to have the MMR, dh is a year younger and he had it. I had single measles and mumps vax in infancy and then a rubella jab at 11 iirc. That was just standard round here.

MMR jabs aren't that effective for babies and even at 13mo it's not as effective as a few months later. I have heard of some younger children being vaccinated though in situations like you describe.

If you have no record of immunity, either vax or having measles, you can have the mmr. I worked for a university and they requested all staff had the mmr before starting due to measles outbreaks happening within universities.

You may well have had the single measles jab. I am 48 and was a guinea pig for the original one but I don't know how long is was before it was on general release.

Thanks everyone!

When my eldest received the mmr in 1988 I was told by the gp that it was a new vaccine.

I've had rubella twice, I know that much...

I was born in 62 and remember queuing up for measles vaccine at primary school then told I wasn't allowed to have it because of family medical history. I did have measles not long after.