In your fifties? Read this!

There is a worrying measles epidemic in Europe, with hundreds of new cases reported during the summer. Of the five cases reported in Finland, the most recent one was an adult who had not been vaccinated against measles.

Most people in Finland develop immunity against measles from the MMR vaccine, which is included in the National Immunisation Programme. The vaccine is administered in two separate doses and it also protects against mumps and rubella. Measles, rubella and mumps are diseases that were eradicated in Finland in the 1970s, and Finland was the world’s first country to achieve complete eradication. However, measles has now returned because not everyone gets the vaccination.

At particular risk of infection are fifty-year-olds, i.e. those who were born in the late 1960s and early 1970s, who have not previously had these diseases and were not vaccinated against them. Almost everyone born in 1975 and thereafter has received the MMR vaccination via a child health clinic or school health care.

If you are unsure of whether you were vaccinated, you can contact your local health centre for details. The information is available from the municipality you lived in at the time. If you never received the vaccination, you can get it free of charge from your local health centre.

In the future, you can also look up your vaccination history in the National Archive for Health Information (Kanta) using your online banking codes. Vaccination data has been recorded in Kanta during the past few years. 

Source

• Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish)