Should my one year old have the MMR vaccine as he has dairy allergies and the MMR vaccine is made from eggs

November 3, 2011 4:29 PM

MMR vaccine and egg allergies

My son has a mild dairy allergy and has just had his first birthday so it is his time for the MMR vaccine. I want to give him it but the nurse didn't know anything about the effect the egg proteins in the vaccine would have on my one year old.

His allergy makes him go red whenever dairy touches his skin or lips. He doesn't swell up so i presume this means it's mild. We've kept him on a soya substitute diet with small doses of mild dairy to try and wean him off the allergy. We miss butter and pizza is crap without cheese.

Online I have found

- http://www.drgreene.com/article/vaccine-ingredients-may-cause-allergic-reactions
- http://www.ivillage.com/mmr-vaccine-and-egg-allergy/6-n-145219
- http://www.vaccineinformation.org/measles/qandavax.asp
- http://www.bmj.com/content/320/7239/929.full

All the articles seem to point to giving the MMR as he only has a mild allergy.

Does the hive mind have better advice or more recent academic papers for me to read (I'm an engineer but my wife is a nurse so she should understand the tech talk).

Many thanks.

posted by Vroom_Vroom_Vroom to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

Eggs aren't dairy -- is he also allergic to eggs?
posted by brainmouse at 4:31 PM on November 3, 2011 [9 favorites]

Yeah. Eggs aren't dairy? I'm confused by this question...

As someone with a mild egg white allergy, I have had the MMR jab twice as an adult. Both times I had swelling at the infection site, but nothing else. However, my allergy to egg whites is mild enough I pretty much ignore it most of the time.
posted by strixus at 4:38 PM on November 3, 2011

Can you go past the nurse and discuss this with your pediatrician?
posted by BlahLaLa at 4:47 PM on November 3, 2011

Has he tried eggs? My family has an extensive allergy history, so I was concerned about the MMR because of the eggs too. So I gave the kid some eggs a few times when he was 11 months old to see if he had any issues. Luckily there were none and he got his MMR last week with no problems.

A friend's child has known egg allergies and her pediatrician recommended delaying the MMR until 18 months.
posted by chiababe at 5:25 PM on November 3, 2011

With the best will in the world, I'm really not sure that Lauren Feder is a good source to recommend here. Her affiliation with homeopathy, ambivalence about vaccination and recommendation of the pointless and risky single vaccine approach to MMR suggest someone less than committed to evidence based practice. There are plenty of child health titles available, there is no reason for anyone to purchased one written by a homeopath.
posted by howfar at 5:52 PM on November 3, 2011 [7 favorites]

I had a mild dairy allergy as a child -- probably more of a sensitivity than an allergy, actually, as I'd turn briefly pink and get itchy, but it didn't get worse with repeat exposure or cause swelling or long-lasting rash. And I LOVE eggs and had lots of shots with no problems. I don't understand why you think this would matter.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 6:37 PM on November 3, 2011

Children with some, especially violent food, allergies are much more likely to have other violent allergies than otherwise. Your child should be evaluated by a licensed allergist to determine empirically what their allergies actually are, vaccine reactions can be really scary and it is worth taking seriously if there is any real risk, they would be able to provide valid recommendations, if your kid is actually fine with things containing eggs they should be fine with the MMR. An allergist could tell you for sure.

If for some reason your child is not medically eligible for the MMR you would suddenly have a large vested interest in the parents of children who are eligible vaccinating their damn kids, as well as avoiding the hell out of those who don't. Measels, Mumps and Rubella are also really fucking scary.
posted by Blasdelb at 10:24 PM on November 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

Best answer: One of my kids had a suspected egg allergy, and we were advised to have his MMR done in a community health centre (as opposed to our GP), and let them know ahead of time. We spent longer post vaccination, to be sure he wasn't going to keel over, and they had adrenaline etc, so I think unless your kid has a serious allergy to egg that you know of, you should proceed as normal.
posted by thylacinthine at 10:31 PM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

My little brother had an egg allergy as a baby (14 years ago), and he had his MMR vaccination at a local hospital, similar to thylacinthine's kid.

Was all fine, but nice to know people were on hand to help if needed.
posted by chrispy108 at 1:57 AM on November 4, 2011

Toddler anachronism had a diagnosed moderate egg allergy and got the MME on time, in the usual place (maternal and child health office) - we just had to stick around for a bit longer in case of reaction. But egg is not dairy, the two aren't linked. Entirely different proteins. The amount of egg protein in the MMR is very minimal but the flu shot is a little more suspect. We were advisedd to drop that until she was older and hopefully grew out of the allergy.
posted by geek anachronism at 5:32 AM on November 4, 2011

Response by poster: Gosh forgot to say this one was resolved......

He actually had an egg and dairy allergy. My mistake.

Anyway following web research and informing doctors (in the UK-Scotland FWITW) the best advice we got was to get the vaccine unless we were sure there would be a severe anaphylactic shock i.e. slight reddening or crying is not an issue.

On the day it went well and we had a quick recovery despite his usual reaction to egg.

He is now nearly two and in fine fettle :) Still gets ill with egg :(

If you are in my position I would say get the vaccine the risks are greater not getting it as long as the doctor is fully made aware of the allergy and has good details of what normally happens.
posted by Vroom_Vroom_Vroom at 10:09 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]