Mumps Vaccine as a Child? You May Not Be Protected

In the past 15 years, several mumps outbreaks have occurred among college students and sports teams, and in close-knit communities across the US. Two possible contributing factors include waning vaccine-induced immunity and differences between the current strain of mumps and the vaccine strain—part of the standard measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) childhood vaccine.

“Overall, the MMR vaccine has been great, with a 99 percent reduction in measles, mumps, and rubella disease,” says Sri Edupuganti, associate professor of infectious diseases at Emory and medical director of the Hope Clinic. “What we’re seeing now is that a few people were not making a strong immune response to begin with, and the circulating strain has drifted away from the strain in the vaccine."