Third Dose of MMR Vaccine May Help Control Mumps Outbreak

A third dose of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine may have helped to control a mumps outbreak in a highly vaccinated New York community during 2009 and 2010. The study, “Impact of a Third Dose of Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine in a Mumps Outbreak,” will be published in the December 2012 issue of Pediatrics (released online Nov. 5).

Most of the people in the affected community who reported having mumps symptoms had previously received the recommended two doses of MMR vaccine. A third-dose of MMR vaccine was offered to eligible 11 to 17-year-olds. After the vaccine intervention, mumps declined by 96 percent in this age group and declined by 75.6 percent in the community overall.

This is the first known study to assess the impact of a third-dose intervention targeted to a specific age group of a highly vaccinated population.