MMR vaccine
The MMR vaccine (Danish – MFR-vaccine) immunizes your child against Measles, Mumps, and Rubella. Vaccinations against these three diseases are of great importance, as the diseases can, in some cases, have extremely severe consequences.
Mumps, for instance, may cause meningitis and loss of hearing in the diseased child. Furthermore, mumps may, in grown men, cause inflammation of the testicles, resulting in reduced reproductive capabilities. Rubella is particularly dangerous to foetuses, and it is thus imperative that women, who wish to become pregnant, are immunized against the disease.
Vaccination will ensure that mothers don't contract the disease and thus risk miscarriage. The last of the three diseases that the MMR-vaccine grants immunity against is measles. Measles can cause severe complications, and 10 in 100 000 children die from the disease, while 40 in 100 000 contract meningitis, often resulting in lasting damage.
Vaccination and complications
Vaccinations ensure immunization by injecting the child with an antigen (virus), which the immune system will then produce antibodies against. The virus contained in the vaccine is not normal-strength virus, but instead a weakened strain, which may produce symptoms reminiscent of the disease in a very mild form.
It is thus neither uncommon nor dangerous for your child to feel slightly ill in the days following vaccinations. Severe side effects of vaccinations are extremely rare. All vaccinations may cause fever, and in some cases fever cramps.
It must be emphasized that complications arising from vaccinations are significantly less common than complications resulting from the diseases themselves. It is therefore important to have your child vaccinated with the MMR-vaccine in order to avoid serious illness due to mumps, measles, and rubella.
Two rounds of MMR vaccination
In Denmark, all children are offered the MMR-vaccine when they are 15 months old. In order to get full benefit of the vaccine, the child must be revaccinated at age 4 or 12. This is partly because some people don't produce antibodies against all three diseases the first time they are vaccinated, and partly because the second vaccination allows the immune system to form additional antibodies against the diseases.
It is thus necessary to undergo two rounds of MMR vaccination. Children are offered several other vaccinations in addition to the MMR-vaccine. The Danish child vaccination programme recommends vaccinations for a total of eight infectious diseases.
The vaccinations are offered at no cost, and participation in the programme is voluntary. The public health vaccinations programme has been instituted in order to prevent disease and the severe complications they may give rise to. In addition, some diseases may be eradicated in time.
All eight diseases are rare in Denmark, but still exist in other countries, and past experience shows that they may crop up again, if participation in the vaccination programme decreases. At the moment of writing, the schedule for the child vaccination programme looks like this:
Childhood vaccinations schedule
|
Age
|
Vaccination
|
Health check
|
|
5 weeks
|
None
|
Yes
|
|
3 months
|
DiteKiPolHib1) + Pn2)
(DPT/Polio/Hib1) + Pn2))
|
No
|
|
5 months
|
DiTeKiPolHib + Pn
(DPT/Polio/Hib + Pn)
|
Yes
|
|
12 months
|
DiTeKiPolHib + Pn
(DPT/Polio/Hib + Pn)
|
Yes
|
|
15 months
|
MFR 1 (MMR 1)3)
|
No
|
|
2 years
|
None
|
Yes
|
|
3 years
|
None
|
Yes
|
|
4 years
|
MFR 2 (MMR 2)
|
Yes
|
|
5 years
|
DiTekiPol (DPT/Polio)
revaccination
|
Yes
|
|
12 years
|
Possibly MFR 2 (MMR 2)4).
Triple vaccination against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) has been introduced for girls born 1993 or later.
|
No
|
Footnotes:
1)DiTeKiPolHib (DPT/Polio/Hib): diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, Haemophilus influenza type b (meningitis). 2) Pn: pneumococcal infection (meningitis et al.) 3)MFR (MMR): measles, mumps, rubella. 4) Only if second instance of MMR vaccine has not been administered at an earlier age.
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