How to know if you are vaccinated against measles: 2 main ways

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases. According to calculations, in a society where no one is vaccinated, a sick person transmits the virus to 12-18 people (for comparison, at the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic for SARS-CoV-2 this figure was of 2.5-3). In this case, the carrier of measles becomes contagious a few days after the appearance of the first symptoms. Measles is incurable – treatment aims to support the body and fight the symptoms.

Children are vaccinated against measles twice: at 12 months, then at six years. One dose is not enough for reliable protection – some people don’t develop antibodies at all after that. If vaccinations were not given in childhood, adults can be vaccinated twice with a break of at least three months between vaccinations.

Rospotrebnadzor said that in Russia 95% of the population is covered by measles vaccination, but some experts have already expressed doubts about the figures announced.

“I remember very well that four or five people in the class had brought their parents’ permission for the vaccinations. That those now in their 40s grew up at the height of anti-vaccination rhetoric. And there were no vaccines. They also entered the 95% figure, ”wrote, for example, Soviet and Russian cardiologist, general practitioner and TV presenter Alexander Myasnikov on his Telegram channel.

How can you understand if you are one of those 95% who have nothing to fear, or do you urgently need to participate in the “cleansing” vaccination that has now begun?

The first way to do this is to familiarize yourself with your vaccination record, which each person has and is kept at the clinic. It is not necessary to look for a children’s card – the vaccination data from it must be transferred to an adult.

A request for the issuance of a copy of a medical card or an extract from it must be sent to the clinic to which you are attached, indicating your name, surname, address, passport details, telephone number of contact and e-mail. The response from the medical institution must be in writing.

If it turns out that the data has been lost, Rospotrebnadzor advises performing a serological blood test for the presence of antibodies to the measles virus. It can be done for free at a clinic with a doctor’s referral or for money at a commercial lab. If there are no antibodies, then you need a vaccine.

And, finally, vaccination can also be carried out without a preliminary test as prescribed by the attending physician – this is reported in Rospotrebnadzor. According to GP Philip Kuzmenko, if you have been vaccinated and get vaccinated again, there will be nothing to worry about, but if you are not vaccinated and get sick, there is a risk of serious complications .