Welsh Assembly Government | The safest way to protect your child for life: MMR

The safest way to protect your child for life: MMR - The facts

Here are some facts about measles, mumps, rubella and the MMR vaccine.

The MMR programme started in Britain in 1988;
By this time, children in the United States had been having the MMR vaccine for more than 15 years with no safety problems;
Worldwide, more than 500 million doses of the MMR vaccine have been given in
over 100 countries;
The World Health Organization says about the MMR vaccine, 'its safety record is exemplary';
In the year before the vaccine was introduced in the UK, 86,000 children caught measles and 16 died;
Because of the MMR vaccine, no child has died from acute measles in the UK since 1992;
Before the vaccine was introduced, mumps was the commonest cause of viral meningitis in children;
Because of the MMR vaccine, we are now close to wiping out mumps in children;
Before the MMR vaccine was introduced, rubella continued to cause terrible damage to some unborn babies;
Because of the MMR vaccine, we are now close to wiping out rubella; and
There has never been a programme of giving single vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella in the UK.