NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Religious holidays are around the corner, children are off from school and many are traveling.
Because of the measles outbreak however, doctors on Long Island say you can give babies and children the vaccine at an earlier schedule.
The normal schedule for babies and children to receive the MMR vaccine, which includes measles, alongside mumps and rubella, is at 12 months of age with a second dose at around four years of age.
Doctors at South Nassau Communities Hospital, however, say if you are traveling to an area affected by a measles outbreak or will have visitors from an area affected, it’s worth pushing up the schedule.
Dr. Aaron Glatt said, “We recommend pushing up the vaccination from 12 months, to moving it up to six months.”
And then instead of waiting years to get the second dose, only waiting 28 days, which doctors say is safe.
Glatt said, “So there probably is zero difference in terms of side effects or any other complications whether you get it more than 28 days or 29 days and on afterwards or you wait and you get it at four or six years of age.”
After two doses, you are 97 percent protected from getting the measles.