Question
MMR vaccine
Answer
MMR vaccine is a combination live attenuated vaccine protecting against Measles, Mumps, and Rubella.
Composition: live attenuated strains of all three viruses, individually weakened through serial passage.
Schedule: first dose at 9–15 months of age, second dose later in childhood, to boost immunity and cover primary vaccine failure.
Contraindications: pregnancy (theoretical risk from live rubella component) and significant immunosuppression.
Public health significance: prevention of congenital rubella syndrome (via herd immunity protecting pregnant women); central to global measles elimination programmes given measles’ very high transmissibility requiring ~95% coverage for herd immunity. The now-discredited and retracted claim linking MMR to autism has been thoroughly disproven by extensive subsequent research.