Title: What is measles vaccine?
Course: Immunization - Ethiopia (Full)

What is measles vaccine?

Measles is discussed in Study Session 4 of the Communicable Diseases Module, Part 1.

Measles vaccine is made from live-attenuated virus and is supplied as a powder that has to be reconstituted with (dissolved in) the special diluent provided to use with it. You will learn about vaccine reconstitution in detail in Study Session 4.

Measles is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that weakens the immune system, leaving children susceptible to other dangerous childhood infections. The common signs and symptoms of measles are a red skin rash, runny nose and conjunctivitis (Figure 3.2).

Figure 3.2  (a) Measles rash covering the whole body of a child; (b) Conjunctivitis (red, watery eyes) caused by measles. (Photos: WHO and Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health, 2005, Case Definition of Measles)

Measles vaccine is a live-attenuated vaccine. What does this mean?

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You learnt about different types of vaccine in Study Session 1, Section 1.3.

It means it has been made from measles viruses that have been weakened in the laboratory so that they cannot cause the disease. But they are still immunogenic, which means they activate the immune system of the vaccinated person to produce immunity against measles viruses if encountered in the future.