Measles Prevention
As you may have heard, there is an ongoing outbreak of measles in 30 states across the U.S., representing over 1,170 cases so far in 2019. This includes a confirmed case in Pima County from late April.
To minimize the potential impact on the health and safety of the UA community, we wanted to share the following recommendations.
1) Check your measles immunity status
- Immunization records, your primary care provider and/or school records are good sources to confirm that you have received two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine.
- Or, get a measles antibody test done on your blood. This can be ordered by your primary care provider.
- If you were vaccinated against measles between 1963-1967, consider getting an MMR booster since the vaccine has improved since that time.
- Individuals born before 1957 are considered to have natural immunity to measles.
2) Get vaccinated if you are not adequately protected against measles. Options include:
- Your primary care provider
- A pharmacy or vaccination clinic
- Pima County Health Department
- Campus Health Immunizations and Travel Clinic
Please try to do this as soon as possible and check with your health insurance about potential costs. To be adequately immunized against measles you need two doses of the MMR vaccine separated by at least 28 days.
If you would like additional information regarding measles and the measles vaccine, please check out the following pages on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website:
- https://www.cdc.gov/measles/vaccination.html
- https://www.cdc.gov/measles/index.html
- https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/index.html
- https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html