Can you get the measles vaccine at four years old?

I have not vaccinated my son for measles. Can I vaccinate him now that he is 4 years old? He has never had the disease.

Dear reader,

you can safely vaccinate your child. I recommend doing it as soon as possible, with the recommendation to administer a second dose of the Measles-Mumps-Rubella and Varicella (MMRV) vaccine at least four weeks after the first; because, without completing the vaccination cycle with the two doses, the child remains exposed to serious complications of the disease, in the event of contagion.

Measles, in addition to being a highly contagious infectious disease (just think that a single patient can infect on average between 12 and 18 non-immune subjects), is also characterized by the particularity of its serious complications, such as pneumonia (which can complicate 1-6% of cases) and acute encephalitis (0.1% or 1 case in 1000 with 20-30% of cases complicated by permanent neurological consequences), in addition to others, which even if less serious (for example: otitis media, laryngotracheobronchitis, diarrhea, dehydration, keratitis, thrombocytopenia and febrile convulsions), can compromise the patient's health.

In addition to the above acute complications, measles can also cause a rare and serious degenerative disease of the nervous system, characterized by deterioration of mental faculties and convulsions, which occurs on average seven years after the primary infection, called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

The vaccine, introduced in the 1960s, is a very valid weapon of defense against this disease: if it had been available in the past, it would have helped prevent a series of epidemics, approximately every two or three years, which, globally, caused an estimated 2.6 million deaths each year.

Despite the opportunity to benefit from an effective vaccine, we cannot yet consider the war against measles won: this virus continues to circulate freely in our country, which currently ranks second in Europe in terms of the number of reported cases.

*Rocco Russo is the coordinator of the vaccination technical table of the Italian Society of Pediatrics (SIP)

The information provided is intended for informational purposes only: it does not in any way constitute medical advice and cannot replace diagnoses or treatment indications recommended by your doctor or specialist.