Evidence suggests that almost everyone who has had a successful immunisation is protected against these diseases for life.
The vaccine has been around for 30 years and is used in over 100 countries. More than 500 million doses have been given.
The vaccine
The vaccine is a freeze-dried preparation which contains live virus particles of the three viruses, which have been modified (attenuated) to stop them from producing the full effects of the disease.
The vaccine is given, by injection, into the thigh or upper arm. It has been found that a booster, before school, makes it likely that more people will be properly protected.
The idea is to fool the body's defence system into thinking it is under attack by the viruses, and to produce defence mechanisms (antibodies) which will fight off the conditions if they are encountered in the future. There is no risk of someone who has been vaccinated infecting other people with the viruses.
Usually the vaccine is for children, but it can be given to non-immune adults. It is suggested that people in long term institutional care, which are not immune, should have the vaccine. It is also recommended that students starting at college or university, who have not received the vaccine previously, should be offered it.
For mmr vaccinations
There are many reasons as to why there should be mmr vaccinations such as Today; the incidence of measles has fallen to less than 1% of people under the age of 30 in countries with routine childhood vaccination. The benefit of vaccination against measles in preventing illness, disability, and death has been well-documented. The first 20 years of licensed measles vaccination in the U.S. prevented an estimated 52 million cases of the disease, 17,400 cases of mental retardation, and 5,200 deaths. During 1999–2004, a strategy led by the World Health Organization and UNICEF led to improvements in measles vaccination coverage that averted an estimated 1.4 million measles deaths worldwide. Underneath is a graph that show how vaccinations have fell in the United States
Evidence 1 this show the drop of measles in the United States because of the mmr vaccine being licensed
Here is another graph showing the drop of rubella due to mmr vaccinations
Evidence 2 this graph show the drop of rubella cases because of the introduction of the mmr vaccine
Evidence 3 this graph show the death rate of people in New Zealand until the vaccine was introduced
Reasons against MMR vaccinations
There are number of argument against mmr vaccinations such as not everyone can have them People are not given the MMR vaccine if they:
- are very ill
- have already had a severe reaction to MMR
- are pregnant - women should avoid pregnancy for 1 month after MMR
- have had an injection of immunoglobulin or another blood product in the previous 3 months
- react severely to neomycin or kanamycin
- have untreated malignant disease or altered immunity
There are many conditions where MMR vaccines are connected to them. Such as asthma, Guillain-Barre syndrome, Crohn's Disease Sub acute Sclerosing Pan Encephalitis also the side effects could be bad for babies and young children below are the side effects of the mmr vaccine
Mild Problems
- Fever (up to 1 person out of 6)
- Mild rash (about 1 person out of 20)
- Swelling of glands in the cheeks or neck (rare) if these problems occur, it is usually within 7-12 days after the shot. They occur less often after the second dose.
Moderate Problems
- Seizure (jerking or staring) caused by fever (about 1 out of 3,000 doses)
- Temporary pain and stiffness in the joints, mostly in teenage or adult women (up to 1 out of 4)
- Temporary low platelet count, which can cause a bleeding disorder (about 1 out of 30,000 doses)
Severe Problems (Very Rare)
- Serious allergic reaction (less than 1 out of a million doses)
- Several other severe problems have been known to occur after a child gets MMR vaccine. But this happens so rarely, experts cannot be sure whether they are caused by the vaccine or not. These include:
- Deafness
- Long-term seizures, coma, or lowered consciousness
- Permanent brain damage
Also there is weak evidence that autism within people has risen to vaccinations
Evidence 4
Conclusion
I think that mmr vaccinations are safe because the benefits outweigh the risks (there is a 90-95%) chance that once you are injected with a vaccine you will rarely get mumps, measles, rubella also it is extremely rare to get a rash after the vaccine it occurs ( 1 in 100,000) people get it also there isn’t much scientific evidence that mmr vaccinations lead to autism and having a fever or rash is better than having measles, mumps and rubella because the effects of the three diseases are more dangerous than having a fever or rash for a day or two. I finally conclude that mmr vaccinations are safe and it is better to have the vaccine then suffer from the diseases
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