Pages

▼

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Merck NOT to resume production of monovalent measles, mumps and rubella

A recent rumor stated that Merck might be supplying their monovalent measles, mumps and rubella vaccines again "some time in 2011". Before anyone gets their hopes up, I went to Merck's webpage. This is their most recent statement (last checked 12 June 2011, my bold):

Based on input from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), professional societies, scientific leaders, and customers, Merck has decided not to resume production of ATTENUVAX® (Measles Virus Vaccine Live), MUMPSVAX® (Mumps Virus Vaccine Live), and MERUVAX®II (Rubella Virus Vaccine Live). This science-based decision will support vaccination of the largest group of appropriate individuals. Merck will continue to focus necessary resources to ensure that they can help meet current and future global public health needs for their combination measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, M-M-R®II (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Virus Vaccine Live).


Parents should not withhold the MMR from their children in the hope of finding monovalent vaccines again. Recent outbreaks underscore the importance of adequate protection from all three diseases.
at

1 comment:

  1. CatherinaJanuary 12, 2011 at 4:25 PM

    In the past couple of days, Merck's phone number to tell them to resume the production of monovalents has been circulating on the internet.

    I would be very interested to hear feedback from anyone who has called, in the light of the very programmatic and strong statement above.

    Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete