The MMR vaccine protects against the serious and contagious diseases of measles, mumps and rubella, and is often a requirement for children to attend public school.

Sutter Walk-In Care makes it easy to get your MMR vaccination – all you need to do is stop by a location any day of the week. In fact, the MMR vaccine may be given at the same time as other vaccines.

Measles Symptoms and Complications

• Symptoms include cough, rash, runny nose, sore throat and fever.
• Ear infections are a common complication for children 5 years old and younger, as well as adults 20 years old and older.
• Rare but severe complications of measles include pneumonia and encephalitis (swelling of the brain).
• For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from the disease.
• Measles may also cause pregnant women to give birth prematurely or have a low-birth-weight baby.

Mumps Symptoms and Complications

• Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, loss of appetite and swollen salivary glands on the sides of the face.
• Rare complications include inflammation of the brain, ovaries or testicles.
• Mumps may also cause severe hearing loss or deafness.

Rubella Symptoms and Complications

• Symptoms include rash, low fever and sore throat.
• Rubella is most dangerous to pregnant women and their unborn babies. It can result in a miscarriage, stillbirth or a baby born with birth defects.

When to Get the MMR Vaccine

Children should get two doses of MMR vaccine:

• First Dose: At age 12 to 15 months from their primary care physician. (Sutter Walk-In Care does not offer care to children younger than 18 months of age.)
• Second Dose: From age 4 to 6, but it may be given earlier, so long as it’s at least 28 days after the first dose.

Some adults should also get MMR vaccine. Generally, anyone 18 years of age or older who was born after 1956 should get at least one dose of MMR vaccine, unless they can show that they have either been vaccinated or had all three diseases.