Tolerability of Early Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination in Infants Aged 6-14 Months During a Measles Outbreak in The Netherlands in 2013-2014.

Thursday, 28th of April 2016

J Infect Dis. 2016 May 1;213(9):1466-71. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiv756. Epub 2015 Dec 21.

Tolerability of Early Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination in Infants Aged 6-14 Months During a Measles Outbreak in The Netherlands in 2013-2014.

van der Maas NA¹ Woudenberg T¹ Hahné SJ¹ de Melker HE¹.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND:

In 2013-2014 a measles outbreak spread through the Netherlands. To protect young infants measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination was offered to those aged 6-14 months in municipalities with routine first-dose MMR vaccine coverage of <90%. We assessed the tolerability of this early administration of MMR vaccine.

METHODS:

After study entry (n = 1866) parents of eligible infants (n = 10 097) completed a questionnaire (n = 1304). For infants who received an early MMR vaccine dose (n = 962) we asked for information about adverse events (AEs) associated with the dose. AE frequencies were compared between infants aged 6-8 9-11 and 12-14 months. Using multivariable logistic regression we assessed the association between the risk of AEs and age at early MMR vaccination.

RESULTS:

The response rate was 13%. Parents of 59 infants (6.1%) and 350 infants (36.4%) who received early MMR vaccination reported local and systemic AEs respectively. Parents of infants vaccinated at 6-8 months of age reported systemic AEs less frequently (32%) than parents of children vaccinated at 9-11 months (45%) and 12-14 months (43%) of age (P= <.001). For local AEs there were no differences (5% 7% and 10% respectively;P= .08). Compared with vaccination at 6 months all older infants except those aged 14 months showed an increased risk for any AE and for systemic AEs starting 5-12 days after vaccination.

CONCLUSIONS:

Early MMR vaccination is well tolerated with the lowest AE frequencies found in infants aged 6-8 months. It is a safe intervention for protecting young infants against measles.