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How does the MMR vaccine combat measles, mumps and rubella?

By Simon Dallow, 1News Presenter
November 18, 2019

Simon Dallow shows us how the vaccine works. (Source: Other)

The combined injection against measles, mumps and rubella, known as the MMR vaccine, contains weakened versions of those three viruses.

Once it enters the body it causes a harmless infection.

The vaccine triggers the body's immune system, in this case white blood cells to produce antibodies which attack and destroy the virus.

The body now remembers how to respond so when proper measles turns up natural systems are in place to fight them.

Remember, measles used to kill millions around the world every year before mass vaccination began in the 1980s.

(First published April 2019.)

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