Measles Vaccine - Effectiveness And Adverse Reactions

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 02:10

Measles vaccine efficacy and adverse reactions

The measles vaccine is given to those children aged 12 or 15 months who have not had measles, and the second vaccine is given to children aged six years. It is necessary for the formation of herd immunity, as well as in the case of weak immunity formed after the first vaccination.

According to the vaccination schedule, measles vaccine is given at the same time as mumps, rubella and hepatitis B vaccines.

Content:

• Effectiveness of the measles vaccine
• Contraindications to the administration of the vaccine
• Complications of measles vaccination
• Myths about the dangers of vaccines
• What Parents Should Remember

Effectiveness of the measles vaccine

Subject to all the rules for vaccination, immunity is developed in almost 100% of cases in children of the second year of life about a month after the injection. Immunity lasts 25 years and only in a few cases can it fade over time.

Contraindications to the administration of the vaccine

Modern medical science has identified a number of contraindications that prohibit vaccinating a child.

Previously, this list was more extensive, but now it has been significantly reduced for several reasons:

• Many years of experience in the use of vaccinations has made it possible to establish that the consequences of refusing them are much more serious than the consequences of vaccination themselves. So, in children infected with tuberculosis, all diseases are very difficult. Premature babies infected with whooping cough can die from the infection. If a person is sick with diabetes, then he has a severe course of rubella. Influenza leads to serious complications in patients with bronchial asthma. If such children are not vaccinated, their lives are in serious danger.
• The WHO conducted studies that made it possible to establish that in children with the listed diagnoses, the post-vaccination period does not differ from that of healthy babies. Moreover, vaccinations do not aggravate the course of the underlying pathology.
• Modern vaccines are practically devoid of proteins and ballast substances, which can cause serious complications. Egg white in many solutions is not even detected, since there is very little of it in them. Therefore, vaccinations can be given to children with an allergy to chicken protein.

Contraindications to vaccination can be of the following types:

• True contraindications. They are included in the list of all the instructions that come with any vaccine. They are also clearly spelled out in all international recommendations.
• False contraindications. They cannot even be called contraindications in the full sense of the word. Although some doctors still do not vaccinate children with perinatal encephalopathy. While this contraindication has long since sunk into oblivion.
• Absolute contraindications. If any, the child is not vaccinated.

• Relative contraindications. They are also true, but the doctor has the final say. So, if you are allergic to chicken protein, children are not given the flu vaccine. While in an epidemic outbreak of the disease, the child can be vaccinated, since the severity of the allergic reaction is not comparable to the severity of complications from the flu. In many countries, children who are allergic to chicken protein are required to be vaccinated against influenza, but specific preparations are made before the injection. It prevents the development of a severe allergic reaction.
• Temporary contraindications. These include chronic diseases in the acute stage, ARVI, etc. When the child recovers, he will be vaccinated.
• Permanent contraindications. They remain with the child for life. An example of such contraindications is congenital immunodeficiency.
• General contraindications. They are the same for all types of vaccines. For example, children are not vaccinated against a background of high body temperature, or during the acute phase of the disease.
• Private contraindications. They are true for some vaccines, but others can be given to the child.

True contraindications include:

Vaccine name	List of contraindications
All vaccinations	After the introduction of the first vaccine, the child developed severe reactions: the body temperature rose to 40 ° C, edema more than 8 cm in diameter occurred. This also includes anaphylactic shock, arthritis, Quincke's edema, etc.
Live vaccines	Congenital insufficiency of immunity, cancerous tumors, period of childbearing.
BCG	The weight of the child is less than 2 kg, the formation of a keloid scar at the site of the previous injection, intrauterine infection of the child, neurological disorders of a severe course, generalized BCG infection in a family history, hemolytic disease of the newborn, systemic diseases of the dermis, HIV in women in labor, child immunodeficiency.
DTP	Seizures that have occurred in the child before, severe neurological pathologies.
Measles, rubella, mumps	Allergy to aminoglycosides, anaphylactic shock, developing on the introduction of chicken protein.
Hepatitis B	Allergy to baker's yeast, prolonged jaundice in a newborn with a significant increase in the level of bilirubin in the blood.

Complications of measles vaccination

Measles vaccine rarely causes side effects. In most children, measles vaccination does not cause any complications, and only about 10% of vaccinations are accompanied by fever, catarrhal symptoms, and a small rash. If you are prone to allergic reactions, a rash may appear in the first hours after vaccination. On the second or third day, all reactions to the drug disappear. In any case, the child does not pose a danger to others.

Children with an increased allergic background may have a rash, urticaria, Quincke's edema; in a very rare case, complications manifest themselves in the form of anaphylactic shock to chicken protein.

An increase in body temperature in some children prone to such complications can provoke seizures. To prevent such consequences, it is recommended to give the child paracetamol on the fifth day after vaccination.

If the body temperature rises to 40 ° C, you need to see a doctor. The child will receive medical assistance, and the vaccine will be sent for research to the appropriate regulatory authorities. If such cases are more frequent, then the batch of vaccinations should be withdrawn and checked.

There have been cases of adolescent sclerosing panencephalitis in pediatrics in children who have not previously had measles and who have received measles vaccine. The likelihood of developing such a complication is one case per million doses of the drug, which is significantly less than with pathology. In measles, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis occurs in 6–22 cases per million cases. The vaccine helps prevent subacute sclerosing panencephalitis by reducing measles, according to a retrospective study by the Center for Disease Control.

Thrombocytopenia is extremely rare after the administration of the trivaccine, and even more rare are cases of this disease after the administration of the monovaccine.

In medicine, a case of toxic shock due to infection with Staphylococcus aureus after contamination of the opened ampoule of the drug is also described.

It is important to understand what is meant by the phrase "local reactions" and "general reactions". All of them are listed in the table.

Local manifestations

Common manifestations

Swelling of tissues. Local redness of the skin. The appearance of a seal. Pain. Such reactions develop due to the fact that aseptic inflammation develops in the area of injection. It can be a reaction to the solution itself, or to injury to the skin and muscles with a needle. Inactivated vaccines contain a substance that stimulates a local reaction. This is necessary so that more blood flows to the site of its injection, which will make the immunity stronger.

Hyperthermic reaction. Skin rashes. Crying and increased anxiety. Refusal to eat. Coldness of the limbs. Headache, dizziness. More often than other reactions in children, a rash appears and a high body temperature develops. A rash most often occurs after an injection from viral diseases (measles, rubella, etc.). This is due to the fact that the virus enters the dermis, but it does not harm health. An increase in body temperature is a natural reaction of the body, which indicates the activation of immunity. When its cells come into contact with an antigen, they release pyrogens into the blood. It is these substances that are responsible for hyperthermia.

The State Institute for Standardization and Control of Vaccines and Serums indicates that during 8 years of research, complications after the introduction of any vaccinations did not exceed 500! While out of 100,000 children who contract whooping cough, 4,000 babies will die.

Myths about the dangers of vaccines

There is a social movement in the world that indicates that vaccines are unsafe and completely useless. This movement is called anti-vaccination.

The failure of vaccination campaigns was first discussed at the end of the 19th century. Today, the situation is complicated by the fact that custom-made reports from the media, as well as non-scientific articles on the Internet, continue to influence the minds of citizens. Many of them, having no medical education, do not at all understand what it is about, but refuse to administer vaccinations to their children. Moreover, they promote their false scientific beliefs among their inner circle.

The main myths that need to be debunked:

• Vaccines are given not for health, but because of the collusion of doctors and pharmacists. Many people are convinced that pharmacists and doctors make fortunes from vaccination campaigns. But why is this belief true for vaccines? All pharmaceutical industries allow someone to get richer, but they don't focus on it. Vaccines are produced in order to prevent serious illnesses and their complications, and not for profit.
• Vaccines are ineffective. This myth is refuted by dry statistics. Vaccinated people rarely get sick. If infection occurs, the infection will be mild. When an unvaccinated person meets her, he will definitely get sick.

It is enough to refer to history to assess the effectiveness of vaccines. More than a third of the world died from smallpox alone. The invention of a vaccine against this disease made it possible to stop the epidemic. In the past 30 years, cases of smallpox in the world have not been recorded, and all thanks to vaccinations.

• No vaccines are needed. Most people who point out the failure of vaccination simply do not have an idea about the real frequency of occurrence of various infections. They think they are not common. In fact, this is not the case. Six years of vaccination of children against hepatitis B has yielded stunning results. So, out of 9 children per 100,000, no more than 1.6% per 100,000 are now sick. These figures are also overestimated because many parents refuse to vaccinate their children. As a result, a stratum of people appears in society that does not have immunity and is the source of the spread of diseases.

• Vaccines have a negative impact on human health. You can find information that vaccines contain mercury, which causes autism in children. It should be noted that the human body contains almost all metals, including mercury. Every day, with food in the gastrointestinal tract, and the loan, various trace elements and compounds enter the blood, but in microscopic doses. There is even less mercury in vaccinations, and it is needed to keep the solution safe.

  Mercury cannot provoke autism. You don't need to study a medical specialty to understand this. However, such statements negatively affect the consciousness of citizens, although they are absolutely anti-scientific. The same applies to epilepsy and other pathologies that vaccines can allegedly cause.

• Vaccines compromise immunity. Immunity after the vaccination is activated, but does not decrease. This is an obvious and scientifically proven fact.

What Parents Should Remember

• You should not bathe your child on the day of vaccination and the next day. It is not recommended to walk with him during the same period. Overcooling of the body and contact with people can cause infection with a respiratory infection. In the first two days, the immune defense actively produces antigens, so the load on it increases. It is good if the child is absolutely healthy at this time.
• If the child's body temperature rises by more than 37.5 ° C, then you need to give him an antipyretic agent.
• To reduce the intensity of local manifestations, it is necessary to take an antihistamine. However, before this, you should consult a doctor.
• The child must be healthy on the day the vaccine is given. From the moment of complete recovery from the previous illness, at least 14 days must pass. The child should be examined by a doctor before the procedure. It is advisable to donate blood and urine for analysis.

Article author: Mochalov Pavel Alexandrovich | d. m. n. therapist

Education: Moscow Medical Institute. IM Sechenov, specialty - "General Medicine" in 1991, in 1993 "Occupational Diseases", in 1996 "Therapy".