Rouvax Measles vaccine

[Jessnet]

In the UK the separate measles vaccine is available (Rouvax - manufactured in France) and there is a clinic in London that advertises they offer the two separate vaccines from the MMR(measles & rubella) for parents choosing that option as part of the clinic's philosophy that the important thing is to get as many children vaxed for measles as possible, and if offering parents choices (MMR vs Rouvax) gets more kids vaxed then they want to do it.

So my question is, has anyone actually traveled overseas and vaxed using the single measles vaccine? It looks like the UK health department does not encourage the single shots, and the clinic speaks of government licensing and manufacturing issues as an explination as to why the vaccine is imported from France as opposed to made in country.

I only ask because our family is making a trip to the UK anyway next spring and it's an idea I've been kicking around....but there doesn't seem to be a lot out there about Rouvax (or least information that is not printed in French)

Thoughts? Experiences?

[LisaSedai]

Interesting. Wish we still had the separate option in the US. My state only requires 1 mumps and rubella but 2 measles (no titers accepted)

I would worry about the unlikely chance my child would have a reaction to the shot, will my health insurance cover for treatment in another country?

I stopped eating beef the year that UK had the mad cow scare. I am sure they totally cleaned up their meat industry (is probably safer than US now) but is bovine serum used in the vaccine? I'm not sure how it works, do they need a new supply of bovine serum with each batch of vax or do they re-use bovine serum from years back? I'd worry about the prions since I don't think you can tell if a specific cow had madcow prions unless you autopsied it.s brain. As the vax is made in France, supposedly they used French cows but who knows? I don't trust that American cows are safe.

There are free sites online that you could use to translate the Rouvax information into English.