MMR vaccine

[doodlepoodlenoodle]

Just looking for a bit of advice.

I had a review with the doctor for some of my existing medication on Friday and mentioned i was about to start TTC.

She said that before I start I get my MMR vaccine. I'm just a bit confused because I'm sure I had two doses of this (confirmed by my mum and on my patient access app) when I was a child and that it covered you for life?

I know how dangerous contracting Rubella is when pregnant so just wondering if anyone else had been through anything similar?

Thanks in advance

How old are you? The Andrew Wakefield MMR hoax was in 1998 and there are therefore a lot of women now in their late twenties / early thirties who were not vaccinated as children and are now planning families. The doctor is probably therefore giving the same message to all patients who are TTC. If you were fully vaccinated as a child you should be protected for life.

Have they checked if you're immune?

I found out I wasn't when they checked during pregnancy (I also was told by my mum I'd had 2 doses). Rubella can be very harmful for the developing baby.

You should only have 2 doses on MMR so check the doctor is aware you have had the MMR.

Thank you for your replies. Im 37.

I've rung the doctors now who have confirmed I'm fully vaccinated. I've had two doses of MMR.

This will be relevant. My sister works in public health and it’s a big concern. Vaccination coverage dropped dramatically in the late 90s / early 2000s and there was some local catch-up (eg the measles outbreak in south Wales about ten years ago) but it hasn’t been co-ordinated and there’s a whole cohort of unvaccinated women now planning babies. It sounds like you are a bit older than this group, OP, but the GP is probably delivering the same message to everyone.

I was fully vaccinated. My GP ran blood tests before referring me for fertility treatment and It showed my MMR had worn off so I had to get another dose.

You need to ask for the blood test, it's the only way you'll know for sure. It was really scary to find out I wasn't immune during my first pregnancy.

Do they routinely test for MMR immunity? This wasn’t mentioned at all when I was pregnant (2020) but lots of things were missing “because covid”.

I’m 37 and wasn’t vaccinated. Was the autism MMR nonsense as late as 1998? I remember my mum withdrawing consent due to this (I thought) but it was when I was in year 3 which would have been 1994/5 I think.

no one asked me when I was pregnant, I was asked in hospital after I’d given birth if I’d had it. My dad couldn’t remember (mum No longer around) and I don’t seem to have access to my vaccination records but I remembered the fuss and was fairly sure I hadn’t had the booster. They gave it to me when my daughter had her first lot of jabs I think.

They used to test for rubella immunity in pregnancy, and offer the MMR booster postnatally for those non-immune. This stopped about 7 years ago I think??

Wakefield’s Lancet article was February 1998.

Interesting. I wonder what it was that spooked my mum then?!? I was in y6/7 in 1998 and I remember clearly the classroom I was in so I was much younger. Maybe I did have MMR as I should have and skipped something else!! The good news is the extra dose I had post natally doesn’t seem to have harmed me 😂

I was first tested in 2014 but I was also tested this year. I was vaccinated on the postnatal ward. Sounds like some areas test and some don't.

I’m really worried now my immunity has worn off!