Measles vaccine immunity may slowly wane over time

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-09-27 08:30

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Researchers looked at measles cases and vaccination status in England from 2010 to 2019, which showed an increase in the proportion of cases among people—especially young adults—who had received two vaccine doses, consistent with other international studies. They modelled different scenarios that could explain this pattern and found that a slow waning of immunity in vaccinated people was the most likely cause. Their findings show the vaccine still remains highly protective against measles infections for decades and that most measles cases spread to people who aren't vaccinated. However, the slow waning of immunity provided by the vaccine could increase the number of measles cases in vaccinated people, contributing to the burden of measles outbreaks.