Measles Prevention
As you may have heard, there is an ongoing outbreak of measles in several regions of the U.S. including California, where it has now affected the University of California at Los Angeles and California State University. Public health officials also identified a measles case and possible exposure here at the Tucson International Airport on April 29th.
To minimize the potential impact on the health and safety of the UA community we wanted to share the following recommendations.
1) Check your measles immunity status:
- Immunization records, your Primary Care Provider and/or school records are good sources to confirm that you have received two doses of the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine.
- Or, get a measles antibody test done on your blood. This can be ordered by your Primary Care Provider.
- If you were vaccinated against measles between 1963-1967, consider getting an MMR booster since the vaccine has improved since that time.
- Individuals born before 1957 are considered to have natural immunity to measles.
2) Get vaccinated if you are not adequately protected against measles. Options include:
- Your Primary Care Provider
- A Pharmacy or vaccination clinic
- Pima County Health Department
- Campus Health Travel and Immunization Clinic
Please try to do this as soon as you possible and check with your health insurance about potential costs. To be adequately immunized against measles you need two doses of the MMR vaccine separated by at least 28 days.
If you would like additional information regarding measles and the measles vaccine, please check out the following CDC webpages: