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Original poster

If I was born in the 70's how do I know if I am fully vaccinated against measles?

36 replies

Meglet · 20/04/2013 17:33

I've dug out my childhood vaccination record card and from the looks of it we only had the one measles jab in those days, there's only one line on the card for it. I was vaccinated for measles at the age of 22 months in 1976. Was it a single jab in those days?

Do I need to worry and consider getting a more recent jab. Or is the vaccine still watertight after all these years?

OP posts:

bumbleymummy · 20/04/2013 17:41

You could have your immunity checked with a blood test. It did used to be just a single measles vaccine.

Suzieismyname · 20/04/2013 17:45

This suggests that you're ok for measles, perhaps not for mumps though!
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vaccinations/Pages/mmr-vaccine.aspx

TattyCatty · 20/04/2013 17:48

I believe that it was a single jab in the 70s. I didn't have it, despite being vaccinated against everything else. According to my mother, I was always ill with Tonsillitis when I got called for my jab, and then I started school and she forgot all about it . I have never had Measles, and did enquire about getting the MMR last year.

However, I was told by the GP Practise Manager that unless I was in a high risk group, or worked with small children, I would not be able to get the jab on the NHS! I would imagine that the situation is now different in areas where there is an outbreak, and I would certainly take the MMR now if offered it.

Original poster

Meglet · 20/04/2013 18:00

suzie it doesn't have mumps on the card actually

The rest are all signed off, triple diptheria / tetanus / whooping cough and one for polio.

I had BCG and rubella at secondary school and mum has popped those slips in there.

So maybe I really didn't have a jab for mumps. Mum is coming back from holiday as I speak so I will grill her tomorrow.

OP posts:

bumbleymummy · 20/04/2013 18:02

I don't know if there was a jab for mumps in the 70s. You may have had it. Over 30% of cases show no symptoms.

RhinestoneCowgirl · 20/04/2013 18:05

Worrying isn't it

I was born in 1978 and had all jabs available, not sure whether that would include measles. I know that I had the rubella jab as a teenager, and having been pg in the last 10 yrs had immunity checked and was ok.

I can just about remember having mumps when I was around 3 or 4. Couldn't go to nursery and was apparently pretty miserable.

JustinBsMum · 20/04/2013 18:08

My DS was given MMR, he was born in 1986. I got his older DSs vaccinated then too as they had only had measles (or whatever was given then)

heartichoke · 20/04/2013 18:19

It sounds as if you'd have been vaccinated - I was wondering what about people born earlier than 1970? I was born in 1968 - were measles vaccines given then? I seem to remember people having mumps and whooping cough at school as children (I think I had them too), but don't remember much about measles...

scaevola · 20/04/2013 18:33

The measles jab was first available in 1968: anyone know what ages it was offered to then? If it was children 1 year plus, then probably anyone born after 65/66 ish could have had it.

BigBoobiedBertha · 20/04/2013 18:35

I was born in 1966 and I am pretty sure I had it. My mother gave me my baby book which I can't lay my hands on this second but I checked when my DSs were small as we did wonder whether it was one I had had.

Just googled and it was introduced in 1968 so that would be about right, if I had it at 18 months or so.

ouryve · 20/04/2013 18:37

heartichoke - I was born in '69 and had the measles jab.

ouryve · 20/04/2013 18:37

I never had mumps, mind - even when my brother caught it when I was 14. So, no idea if I'm immune to that.

Chubfuddler · 20/04/2013 18:39

I don't think there was a mumps jab in the 1970s. I had all the vaccinations available and still had mumps - twice. Rubella immunity can wear off even if you're vaccinated - mine was tested in both pregnancies and ok.

Original poster

Meglet · 20/04/2013 18:41

So no one was vaccinated against mumps until the introduction of the MMR in 1988. However Doctor Google seems to say that prior to that most people were exposed to it as a young child. So either you got it, or were naturally immune .

OP posts:

Chubfuddler · 20/04/2013 18:48

Yes I got it at about three and then again at five. I was born in 1979.

NiceTabard · 20/04/2013 18:54

I was born in 73 and we got measles and polio and prob some other vaccinations when little. Rubella girls got at 12 I think. And BCG for all when at school as well. Mumps you were expected to get, we weren't immunised against it in those days. My brother had it but I never did so must be a lucky one who didn't show any symptoms, assume must be immune as was round quite a few people who had it.

heartichoke · 20/04/2013 19:55

Thanks - Ourvye - why are they saying that people born in the '70s have to get vaccinated now, though? Wouldn't they have been 'done' too?

Chubfuddler · 20/04/2013 20:36

Are they saying that? I haven't heard that.

LunaticFringe · 20/04/2013 20:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

heartichoke · 22/04/2013 20:04

Sorry chubfuddler - bit slow on the uptake - but from the BBC:

Although aimed primarily at children, the vaccinations were available for anyone born after 1970 who had not had measles or been inoculated against it.

Not born 'in' the seventies, but 'after' 1970...

Chubfuddler · 22/04/2013 20:43

Oh. Well I'm pretty sure that if measles vaccine was part of the standard regime then I would have had it. My mum was a nurse, she heartily believes in sticking needles in people (although interestingly she thinks the 2/3/4 month hib/men/dip is done too early).

steppemum · 22/04/2013 20:55

I was born in Feb 1967
The measles jab was introduced when I was between 1 and 2. It was rolled out to those starting school, aged 4-5.
I was given it because my mum ran a playgroup and I was therefore exposed.
I assume otherwise I would have had it aged 4. Not sure if the children older than 4/5 in 1968 would have been given it at any point?

The mumps vaccine came later, I think at the time they introduced the MMR, it was one reason they went to MMR - the new mumps vaccine and also they wanted to change Rubella from a jab given to 12 year olds to a jab given to young children, as the update at 12 wasn't good enough.

Chub - as far as I know in Germany they do the 2/3/4 month jabs later, and there are other countries who do it later too.

holidaysrcoming · 23/04/2013 15:01

i've read on a separate thread that the measles part of the mmr only give 30 years immunity. assume same is true of single vaccine? if that's the case most of us 70s babies who were inoculated are at risk now ?

LadyGranulomaFortesque · 23/04/2013 15:07

Unless like me you were vaccinated and had measles too, in which case it is highly likely you have a natural immunity from the wild virus.

My mum says that everyone had the vaccine yet all my friends had measles too. She insists that GP's back then (late seventies, early eighties) used to say you would still probably catch it but would get a milder version.

Tabitha8 · 23/04/2013 18:22

Holiday If that is true, about the 30 years, why aren't we seeing huge outbreaks of measles amongst all the adults in Wales? That point is a general one, not specifically, addressed to you .

If I had £40 to spare (I think that's the approx. figure) then, in the interests of science, I'd have my immunity tested.

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