AskDrSears - The Vaccine Book: January 2008

Finding MMR Vaccines Separated

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

How can I get separate Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccines if my doctor won’t order it for me?

Many parents now want to split up the MMR vaccine into separate components and give them separated each by a year. However, a doctor can’t order just single doses of each shot through the regular channels. They have to get 10 doses of each, and if there are only one or two patients in the office that want them separated, the doctor eats the cost of the unused shots. So most doctors, understandably, won’t do that.

Here are some ways that patients have found they can get the shots separately:

1. Go to a vaccine clinic at a large university hospital. I know one near where I practice that offers them separately.

2. Go to a travel clinic where people usually go to get unusual travel vaccines prior to international travel. Some of these carry the separate M, M, and R.

3. Ask your doctor to write you a prescription for each shot and try to get it filled through a pharmacy. You would bring the shot back to your doctor’s office (making sure you keep it a refrigerator temperature – 36 to 46 degrees F or 2 to 8 degrees Celsius) for the nurse to administer.

4. Ask for a prescription, but get it filled through an online medical supply company or online pharmacy. They can ship it directly to your doctor’s office (shipping isn’t cheap though). One such company that I know of is American Medicine, Inc. in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You can find them on Google.

5. Check out our Vaccine-Friendly Doctor’s list to see if there’s anyone within driving distance for you. They typically would need you to become a patient and get checkups there in order to provide you with vaccines.

6. If you can’t find the separate shots anywhere, ask your doctor to start a list of like-minded patients and just skip the full MMR for now. Chances are over the next year or two the list will grow to include 10 patients. Delaying your baby’s protection for a year wouldn’t be too risky since the diseases are very rare.

Cost – I know it costs my office about between 35 and 50 dollars for each vaccine, so you can expect to pay at least this much plus whatever markup your provider deems appropriate.

Dr. Bob

Separate Mumps Vaccine Returns

Friday, January 25, 2008

After almost a year of shortage, the separate Mumps vaccine is now available again. Mumps, a usually harmless childhood disease that causes swollen facial glands, fever, and rash, is one of the diseases covered by the MMR vaccine (Measles and Rubella are the other two illnesses). The MMR is normally given at 1 and 5 years of age to provide protection from these three diseases. However, recent worry over the connection between the Measles component of the MMR vaccine and autism (see my blog on this http://www.askdrsears.com/thevaccinebook/archives/2007_10_01_archive.asp ) has caused some parents to shy away from this triple vaccine at age 1. But parents do typically want their kids to be protected from Mumps and Rubella.

One option parents are following is to give the plain Mumps vaccine at age 1, Rubella at age 2, and then Measles at age 3 (if all is well with a child’s development). Because of this increased demand for the individual Mumps shot, along with the adult Mumps outbreak two years ago that ate into the nation’s stores of Mumps vaccine, the vaccine became unavailable last year. But now it’s back. Parents who have been waiting to get their kids vaccinated for Mumps should contact their doctor. See my related blog under FAQ’s with information on where to get the shot if your doctor doesn’t carry it.