The Medicines Act prevents us from stockpiling Measles or Mumps vaccines. These vaccines are unlicensed so may only be ordered personally for your child, once he or she has actually commenced single vaccinations, i.e. they have had the Rubella jab. We cannot guarantee that the government won’t change its rules, or the supplying manufacturer won’t change its production policy in the intervening period. To find out the current situation please call us - 0845 644 3485 (local rate).
Call us for current information.
No “live” vaccine contains mercury.
German Measles/Rubella
A live injection, producing antibody in at least 95% of vaccinees for at least 15 years. A disease like German Measles still occurs in some of the vaccinated. Natural infection creates longer-lasting immunity and is preferable, but our Government’s vaccination campaign has created a new situation. Girls vaccinated at 12 may have lost their immunity by the time they become pregnant for the first time, often now in their late twenties. These young women are, without knowing it, vulnerable to infection before their first antenatal clinic visit. It is now State policy to reduce this risk by vaccinating children in their second year of life. GHK prefers to advise women contemplating their first pregnancy to be tested for immunity, or re-immunised, before conception. (Ask for our Recommended Schedule of Vaccinations)
Measles
Measles is a miserable disease, more damaging the younger you are and if you are already unwell when it strikes. It still kills around 20 annually in Britain. Vaccination occasionally produces a milder 48-hour disease 5-10 days later, even when done singly, but then protects at least 95% of children for at least 15 years - which makes one dose effective for a lifetime, since adults do not seem to get Measles.
Some parents feel that the risks and benefits are evenly matched, and prefer to let their children get measles. This, however, puts the disease in control – it may strike at the worst possible moment. Vaccination puts you in control. If you accept it only when your child is well, a bad reaction is much less likely, and in our view this tips the risk/benefit calculation firmly in favour of the vaccine.
Mumps
The jab is only effective for about 10 years, so infant vaccination exposes teenagers to natural infection at a vulnerable age. Natural infection when very young is more effective and safer for healthy children. You cannot mistake the diagnosis - no other facial swelling completely hides the back of the jawbone. A child with Mumps rests instinctively, which prevents complications, and their sex glands are not yet vulnerable in any case. If a girl of 8 or a boy of 9 has not yet had Mumps, however, vaccination at that age would help prevent attack during their adolescent growth spurt. If a sudden Mumps outbreak would seriously inconvenience family work commitments, it is reasonable to immunise the child in the second year and then again at 8 or 9. However they need then to grow up aware that they may still get Mumps as adults and, if so, to treat it with great respect.
MMR
Combining several live virus vaccines in one dose defies a basic law of nature, by which the first virus to arrive would prevent the development of any other. Deliberately to break so basic a rule is unwise. The combination somewhat weakens the effectiveness of each constituent, so regular boosters have become routine. It creates the possibility of exchange of genes between the viruses during their parallel development, and the mutant virus so produced may not be harmless. Parents who have resisted the triple MMR do therefore have a point, in our opinion. For them we recommend single vaccines against Rubella and Measles six weeks apart in the second year of life, and against Mumps on the threshold of adolescence for those who have not yet had wild Mumps. This schedule is legal in Britain, subject to medical consultation and prescription.