The Prospect of a Third Dose of MMR
Posted: 9/26/2017 10:55:22 AM | with 0 comments
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study titled “Effectiveness of a Third Dose of MMR Vaccine for Mumps Outbreak Control.” Pediatrics published a study in 2012 titled “Impact of a Third Dose of Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine on a Mumps Outbreak.” These studies reflect a concern over the continuing outbreaks of mumps among high school and college students in the U.S. despite vaccination rates as high as 97 or 100 percent.
Both the 2012 and 2017 studies concluded that a third dose of MMR vaccine resulted in a lower rate of mumps infection. The 2017 study concluded that, “waning immunity probably contributed to propagation of the outbreak.”
It is not clear that a third dose of MMR will address the problem of waning immunity, or that it will not aggravate the problem by accelerating the evolution of the mumps virus, making the MMR vaccine even less effective with each dose given. Joseph Mercola, DO has observed that the “mumps virus may be evolving in response to mass vaccination campaigns, much in the same way that bacteria have evolved in response to excessive use of antibiotics.”
There is a huge gap in our scientific knowledge about the effect of the MMR vaccine on mumps. CDC’s Janell Routh, MD states, “We don’t know the level of antibody required to stop a case of mumps in a person, so that question of knowing if the vaccine works less well over time is something we’re still working to investigate.”
In the meantime, there seems to be a gravitational pull toward requiring a third MMR dose. But where will it end? Four? Five? As screenwriter and former psychiatric researcher Barbara Benedek once said, “More isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just more.”
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Posted: 9/26/2017 10:55:22 AM | with 0 comments