Vaccinations—worth getting if you had the disease?

Parent Cafe
1

Just curious, since there are now outbreaks of measles and other conditions here and there. I know as a child I had measles, mumps, German measles and chickenpox. I have no idea whether that truly confers lifelong immunity.

Have any of these folks who have been getting measles been folks who previously had it or all they all folks who never had it an were never vaccinated? Does it make sense bothering with getting titers to check for immunities?

I did get Zostervax and 2 doses of Shingrex. My lung specialist said he’s not an internist when I asked him the question and ducked.

2

Since you are concerned, and have other health issues that would complicate things, go ahead and get the titer.

3

Infection with measles, rubella (German measles), and chicken pox should give lifelong immunity, although:

  • Measles infection could reduce immunity to previous infections or vaccines.
  • Chicken pox infection means that you could get shingles (but you got the shingles vaccines).
  • Mumps immunity may not be as long lasting, although this is noted mainly in the mumps vaccine context, rather than wild-type mumps infections.

If you are concerned (particularly for mumps or infections or vaccines gotten before you got measles), you could get the titers.