New Vaccine Requirements Shouldn't Affect Most Kids

Maryland school kids will be required next year to receive two doses of the Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine but, according to a Howard County Health official, the change shouldn't affect many students.

The change may be due, in part, to a recent outbreak of mumps in Maryland, according to Howard County health Officer Maura Rossman. According to the Baltimore Sun, in March and April, more than a dozen cases of mumps were reported at Loyola University. 

Currently, the state requires students to have two measles shots, but just one mumps shot, according to Rossman. The new standard was implemented to require students get two mumps shots.

But, “in effect, the only way you can get the measles vaccine is to get the MMR” because separate vaccines haven’t been available for years, Rossman said.

Since MMR includes both the measles and mumps vaccines, she said “pretty much every child vaccinated within at least 10 years, if not more, in the U.S. has received [two doses of] the MMR vaccine.” 

The same is true in most other countries, Rossman said.

Not to downplay the importance of the vaccine, she said, but the new regulation is more of a “paperwork” issue. 

Mumps is caused by a bacteria that spreads from person-to-person in the air through coughing and sneezing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common symptom of mumps is painful swelling of the salivary glands—between the ear and the jaw.  

Before this year’s outbreak, in 2011, the last year numbers were available from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, there were two cases of mumps in the state—one in Howard County and one in Allegany County.