Your questions answered
"Why are single vaccines not licensed for use in this country? Is it because no application had been made or that they have been found unsafe/inefficient."
There are extant licences for single measles and rubella vaccines
in this country, but no manufacturer manufactures single measles nor
rubella to this licence. Therefore licensed stocks of measles and
rubella vaccine are no longer available. Single mumps has never been
licensed in the UK.
Single measles and mumps vaccines which are being imported have no
evidence to show that they are either safe or that they work in
preventing the disease for which they are intended. In the case of
single mumps vaccines, two brands have been banned as one,
manufactured using the Urabe strain of mumps virus, was shown to
cause aseptic meningitis in a few children, and the other,
manufactured using the Rubini strain of mumps virus, because it
didn't work.
Another mumps vaccine from the Czech Republic has been suspended
from importation because of unusual manufacturing and storage
methods not used anywhere in the European Union. In addition there
was not any proper scientific evidence to support either its safety
or efficacy.
- "I have heard that mumps is going around. I thought that MMR prevented mumps so why is this happening?"
- "What strains of Measles, Mumps and Rubella are used in the MMR vaccine to immunise against the respective diseases?"
- "I believe Rubella component of MMR vaccine was originally sourced from aborted fetuses. I have an ethical problem with this. Is this true?"
- "Why is the recommended age that a child should receive the mmr vaccine between 12 and 18 months? Surely if the vaccine is safe, it should be given much earlier to avoid getting measles, mumps and rubella?"
- "If I have epilepsy , and my child is due to have the MMR is there a risk they could develop it? "