The MMR vaccine is a powerful tool to prevent three highly contagious viral diseases: measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles). Thanks to the MMR vaccine, introduced in 1963, these serious ...
But as recently as the 1960s, measles sickened half a million people in the U.S. annually and killed hundreds. Mumps was a leading cause of deafness in children and rubella sicken ...
Measles and mumps are viral diseases so rare that fewer than one in 40,000 Americans catch either of them in a given year. Getting rubella is less likely than getting struck by lightning.