For the first injection of the measles vaccine, the sooner the better. This is what the American researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say, who realized that making this injection at 12 months, as recommended in the vaccination schedule, greatly reduces the risk. suffer from fever or seizures in the days following the vaccine. On the other hand, this risk increases when the first injection takes place between 12 and 15 months.
Doctors do not wish to be alarmist, however: only one in 1000 children suffers from seizures after receiving a vaccine dose. “But this risk is more common in children over 12 months.”
These recommendations from the United States join those of the French Association of Ambulatory Pediatrics (Afpa) which reminds that it is strongly recommended to administer the first dose of the MMR vaccine (Measles-Mumps-Rubella) at 12 months, then the second dose between 16 and 18 months. However, children in community care should receive the first dose at 9 months, then the second dose between 12 and 15 months.
Measles is often mistakenly considered a benign disease of early childhood, when it can give rise to complications which can be serious: ear infections, pneumonia, sometimes acute encephalitis. In addition, it weakens the child and makes him vulnerable to many other diseases.
This is why the vaccine recommended by the Haute Autorité de santé is 100% covered by Health Insurance. According to Medicare doctors, the vaccine is well tolerated: “1 in 10 children may have a fever, sometimes accompanied by small red spots on the skin, between 5 and 12 days after the injection. A reaction (redness, swelling) at the site of the bite is possible, but rare ”.
