Most of us will recall getting the dreaded measles-mumps (MMR) vaccine as children. Now, it transpires the MMR vaccine may provide protection against COVID-19, according to a study that explains why children have a much lower case rate and death incidence than adults.
The MMR vaccine has been theorised to provide protection against COVID-19, and now the study, published in the journal mBio, provides further proof of this. The majority of children get their first MMR vaccination around 12 to 15 months of age and a second one from 4 to 6 years of age. The researchers divided 80 subjects into 2 groups.
The MMR II group consisted of 50 US born subjects who would primarily have MMR antibodies from the MMR II vaccine. The researchers found a significant inverse correlation between mumps antibodies and COVID-19 severity within the group. The MMR II vaccine is considered a safe vaccine with very few side effects.
If it has the ultimate benefit of preventing infection from COVID-19 or preventing the spread of COVID-19 and reducing the severity of it, or a combination of any or all of those, it is a very high reward low risk ratio intervention, a researcher said.
