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MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) – Vaccine Risk Statement

MMR Vaccine (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) Is It Safer Than Measles, Mumps and Rubella?

Physicians for Informed Consent | December 2024

What Is the MMR Vaccine?

The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is a live virus vaccine that was introduced in 1963. It has significantly reduced the incidence of reported cases of measles, mumps, and rubella infections; however, vaccine immunity wanes over time.1-3

What Are Side Effect of the MMR Vaccine?

Common side effects of the MMR vaccine include fever, mild rash, and swelling of glands in the cheeks or neck.4 A more serious side effect is seizure, which occurs in about 1 in 640 children vaccinated with MMR5 — about five times more often than seizure from measles infection.6

Although severe potential side effects have been observed following MMR vaccination, including neurological disorders (e.g., encephalopathy, meningitis, ataxia, transverse myelitis, optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, brachial neuritis, and hearing loss), autoimmune diseases (e.g., chronic arthritis), fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) states that “the evidence is inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship between MMR vaccine” and those conditions.7 Additionally, the manufacturer’s package insert states, “M-M-R II vaccine has not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential or impairment of fertility.”8

How Are Risks of Vaccine Side Effects Measured?

Methods to measure vaccine risks include surveillance systems, clinical studies, and epidemiological studies.

How Accurate Is Surveillance of Adverse Events from the MMR Vaccine?

The government tracks reported cases of vaccine side effects through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Approximately 40 cases of death and permanent injury from the MMR vaccine are reported to VAERS annually.9 However, VAERS is a passive reporting system — authorities do not actively search for cases and do not actively remind doctors and the public to report cases. These limitations can lead to significant underreporting.10 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states, “VAERS receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events.”11 Indeed, as few as 1% of serious side effects from medical products are reported to passive surveillance systems,12 and as few as 1.6% of MMR-related seizures are reported to VAERS.13 In addition, VAERS reports are not proof that a side effect occurred, as the system is not designed to thoroughly investigate all cases.14 As a result, VAERS does not provide an accurate count of MMR vaccine side effects.

How Accurate Are Clinical Trials of the MMR Vaccine?

The CDC states, “Prelicensure trials are relatively small — usually limited to a few thousand subjects — and usually last no longer than a few years… Prelicensure trials usually do not have the ability to detect rare adverse events or adverse events with delayed onset.”10 For children under age 10 at normal risk (i.e., with normal levels of vitamin A and infected after birth), the pre-vaccine annual risk of death or permanent disability from measles, mumps, and rubella respectively was 1 in 1 million, 1 in 1.6 million, and 1 in 2.1 million.6,15-17 Therefore, the cumulative annual risk of a fatal or permanently disabling case of any of those diseases was about 1 in 500,000, and the risk over a 10-year span was 1 in 50,000. A few thousand subjects in clinical trials are not enough to prove that the MMR vaccine causes less permanent disability or death than measles, mumps, and rubella (Fig. 1). In addition, the lack of adequate clinical trials of the MMR vaccine resulted in the manufacturer’s package insert data to be reliant on passive surveillance for rates of MMR-related neurological adverse reactions, permanent disability, and death.8

How Accurate Are Epidemiological Studies of the MMR Vaccine?

Epidemiological studies are hindered by the effects of chance and possible confounders — additional factors that could conceivably affect the groups being studied. For example, there is a well-known 2002 Danish study published in the New England Journal of Medicine involving about 537,000 children that looked for an association between the MMR vaccine and certain adverse events.18 The raw data in the study was adjusted, in an attempt to account for potential confounders, and the study found no association between the MMR vaccine and the adverse events. However, because there is no evidence that the estimated confounders used to adjust the raw data were actually confounders, the study did not rule out the possibility that the MMR vaccine increases the risk of an adverse event that leads to permanent injury by up to 77%. Consequently, the study did not rule out the possibility that such adverse events might occur up to 21 times more often than death or permanent disability from measles, mumps, and rubella in children at normal risk (i.e., with normal levels of vitamin A and infected after birth): 1 in 2,400 compared to 1 in 50,000 (Fig. 2 and Table 1). The range of possibilities found in the study, between the adjusted data and the raw data, makes the result inconclusive; even large epidemiological studies are not accurate enough to prove that the MMR vaccine causes less death or permanent injury than measles, mumps, and rubella.

Is the MMR Vaccine Safer Than Measles, Mumps, and Rubella?

It has not been proven that the MMR vaccine is safer than measles, mumps, and rubella. The vaccine package insert raises questions about safety testing for cancer, genetic mutations, and impaired fertility. Although VAERS tracks some adverse events, it is too inaccurate to measure against the risk of measles, mumps, and rubella. Clinical trials do not have the ability to detect less common adverse reactions, and epidemiological studies are limited by the effects of chance and possible confounders. Safety studies of the MMR vaccine are particularly lacking in statistical power. A review of more than 60 MMR vaccine studies conducted for the Cochrane Library states, “The design and reporting of safety outcomes in MMR vaccine studies, both pre- and post-marketing, are largely inadequate.”19 Because permanent sequelae (aftereffects) from measles, mumps, and rubella are so rare (especially in children with normal levels of vitamin A and infected after birth),6,15-17 the level of accuracy of the research studies available is insufficient to rule out the possibility that the MMR vaccine causes greater death or permanent disability than measles, mumps, and rubella.

References

  1. LeBaron CW, Beeler J, Sullivan BJ, Forghani B, Bi D, Beck C, Audet S, Gargiullo P. Persistence of measles antibodies after 2 doses of measles vaccine in a postelimination environment. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007 Mar;161(3):294-301. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17339511/.
  2. Lewnard JA, Grad YH. Vaccine waning and mumps re-emergence in the United States. Sci Transl Med. 2018 Mar 21;10(433):2. http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/10/433/eaao5945.
  3. Davidkin I, Jokinen S, Broman M, Leinikki P, Peltola H. Persistence of measles, mumps, and rubella antibodies in an MMR-vaccinated cohort: a 20-year follow-up. J Infect Dis. 2008 Apr 1;197(7):955. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18419470/.
  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Vaccines and immunizations: possible side effects from vaccines; [cited 2023 Dec 28]. https://physiciansforinformedconsent.org/cdc-vaccines-and-immunizations-possible-side-effects-from-vaccines/.
  5. Vestergaard M, Hviid A, Madsen KM, Wohlfahrt J, Thorsen P, Schendel D, Melbye M, Olsen J. MMR vaccination and febrile seizures: evaluation of susceptible subgroups and long-term prognosis. JAMA. 2004 Jul 21;292(3):356. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/199117.
  6. Physicians for Informed Consent. Newport Beach (CA): Physicians for Informed Consent. Measles – disease information statement (DIS). 2017 Oct; updated 2024 Aug. https://physiciansforinformedconsent.org/measles.
  7. Institute of Medicine (IOM). Adverse effects of vaccines: evidence and causality. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press; 2012. 119-217. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK190024/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK190024.pdf.
  8. Merck. Rahway (NJ): Merck and Co., Inc. M-M-R II (measles, mumps, and rubella virus vaccine live); revised 2023 Oct [cited 2024 Jan 27]. 8. https://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/m/mmr_ii/mmr_ii_pi.pdf.
  9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CDC wonder: about the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS); [cited 2024 Feb 12]. https://wonder.cdc.gov/vaers.html. Query for death and permanent disability involving all measles-containing vaccines, 2011-2015.
  10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Manual for the surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases. 5th ed. Miller ER, Haber P, Hibbs B, Broder Chapter 21: surveillance for adverse events following immunization using the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2011. 1,2,8. https://physiciansforinformedconsent.org/cdc-manual-for-the-surveillance-of-vaccine-preventable-diseases-5th-ed-chpt21-surv-adverse-events-2011.
  11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Guide to interpreting VAERS data; [cited 2022 May 28]. https://vaers.hhs.gov/data/dataguide.html.
  12. Kessler DA. Introducing MEDWatch. A new approach to reporting medication and device adverse effects and product problems. JAMA. 1993 Jun 2;269(21):2765- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0163834394900515?via%3Dihub.
  13. Doshi P. The unofficial vaccine educators: are CDC funded non-profits sufficiently independent? [letter]. BMJ. 2017 Nov 7 [cited 2017 Nov 20];359:j5104. http://www.bmj.com/content/359/bmj. j5104/rr-13.
  14. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CDC wonder: about the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS); [cited 2022 May 28]. https://wonder.cdc.gov/vaers.html.
  15. Magno H, Golomb B. Measuring the benefits of mass vaccination programs in the United States. Vaccines. 2020 Sep 29;8(4):4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33003480/.
  16. Physicians for Informed Consent. Newport Beach (CA): Physicians for Informed Consent. Mumps – disease information statement (DIS). Mumps: what parents need to know. 2024 Aug. https://physiciansforinformedconsent.org/mumps.
  17. Physicians for Informed Consent. Newport Beach (CA): Physicians for Informed Consent. Rubella – disease information statement (DIS). Rubella: what parents need to know. 2024 Aug. https://physiciansforinformedconsent.org/rubella.
  18. Madsen KM, Hviid A, Vestergaard M, Schendel D, WohlFahrt J, Thorsen P, Olsen J, Melbye M. A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism. N Engl J Med. 2002 Nov 7;347(19):1477,1480. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa021134?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed.
  19. Demicheli V, Rivetti A, Debalini MG, Di Pietrantonj C. Vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella in children. Cochrane Database of Syst Rev. 2012 Feb 15;(2). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22336803/.

April 16, 2025 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science | , , | Leave a comment

No Proof MMR Vaccine Is ‘Safer’ than Measles, Mumps or Rubella Infection, Physician Group Says

By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D. | The Defender | January 14, 2025

The risk of permanent disability or death from the MMR vaccine may be greater than the risk posed by measles, mumps or rubella infection because large enough vaccine safety studies haven’t been done, according to a collection of new documents released by Physicians for Informed Consent (PIC).

The collection includes disease information statements for measles, mumps and rubella, and a vaccine risk statement for the MMR vaccine.

According to the Mayo Clinic, measles is a viral infection typically accompanied by a skin rash, fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, inflamed eyes and tiny white spots on the inner cheek.

Mumps and rubella also are viral infections. According to PIC, all three viral infections typically resolve on their own with proper rest and hydration in almost all cases.

Dr. Shira Miller, PIC’s founder and president, told The Defender, “The main takeaway is that the MMR vaccine has not been proven safer than measles, mumps and rubella.”

PIC is a nonprofit that delivers data to doctors and the public so they can “evaluate the data on infectious diseases and vaccines objectively, and voluntarily engage in informed decision-making about vaccination.”

Miller explained that the MMR vaccine clinical trials didn’t include enough subjects to be able to prove that the risk of permanent disability or death from the vaccine is less than the risk of permanent disability or death from measles, mumps or rubella.

The number of measles, mumps or rubella infections that result in permanent disability or death is so low that researchers would need to have at least 50,000 subjects in a clinical trial to be able to show that the vaccine is safer than the disease.

The MMR vaccine’s clinical trials fall very short of that benchmark, according to PIC’s statement on MMR vaccine risk.

Prelicensure clinical trials for vaccines, including the MMR shot, are “relatively small and usually last no longer than a few years,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 2024 “Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases.”

The 2024 edition of the CDC manual doesn’t specify exactly how many subjects are in these “relatively small” trials. However, the 2011 edition stated that “relatively small” meant that such trials are “usually limited to a few thousand subjects.”

The rate of disability or death among healthy children from any of those three diseases is incredibly rare. PIC wrote:

“For children under age 10 at normal risk (i.e., with normal levels of vitamin A and infected after birth), the pre-vaccine annual risk of death or permanent disability from measles, mumps, and rubella respectively was 1 in 1 million, 1 in 1.6 million, and 1 in 2.1 million. …

“Therefore, the cumulative annual risk of a fatal or permanently disabling case of any of those diseases was about 1 in 500,000, and the risk over a 10-year span was 1 in 50,000.”

In other words, clinical trials would need at least 50,000 subjects to detect one case of death or disability from a measles, mumps or rubella infection.

Meanwhile, no safety studies on the MMR vaccine have been done that looked for possible genetic mutations, impaired fertility or cancer, according to the product’s package insert.

Also, seizures from the MMR vaccine occur five times more often than measles-related seizures.

Dr. Liz Mumper, a pediatrician, praised PIC for releasing the collection of data on measles, mumps and rubella, and on the MMR vaccine.

“Most parents have not had access to the information contained in the thoughtful analysis done by Physicians for Informed Consent. Parents should recognize that the risk of bad outcomes from a measles infection — if their child lives in a developed country with clean water and is not immune-deficient — is extraordinarily rare, as PIC reports.”

Unfortunately, she added, recent U.S. media reports “sensationalized” the risks of measles.

What’s typically missing from measles media reports

PIC’s statement on measles cited numerous facts commonly overlooked in many media reports on measles outbreaks, including:

  • The U.S. measles mortality rate dropped dramatically before a measles vaccine was introduced in 1963.
  • Immunity from the MMR vaccine wanes so that by age 15, roughly 60% of vaccinated children are susceptible to subclinical measles virus infections.
  • Studies have suggested a link between a naturally acquired measles infection and a reduced risk of Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.
  • Studies also suggested a link between a naturally acquired measles infection and a lower risk of asthma, eczema and hay fever.
  • Malnutrition — particularly vitamin A deficiency — is a primary cause of over 100,000 measles deaths in underdeveloped countries.

Mumper said that the risk of bad outcomes from a measles infection drastically declined with improved public health and better nutrition long before MMR vaccines were available.

“The risk of bad outcomes has always been more for children in developing countries who are more likely to have nutritional deficiencies including vitamin A and lack access to clean water,” Mumper added.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

January 14, 2025 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science | , , , | Leave a comment