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

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.