What is used to make measles vaccine?

Answer 1

The MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) is a live, attenuated (weakened), combination vaccine that protects against the measles, mumps, and rubella viruses. It was first licensed in the combined form in 1971 and contains the safest and most effective forms of each vaccine.

It is made by taking the measles virus from the throat of an infected person and adapting it to grow in chick embryo cells in a laboratory. As the virus becomes better able to grow in the chick embryo cells, it becomes less able to grow in a child's skin or lungs. When this vaccine virus is given to a child it replicates only a little before it is eliminated from the body. This replication causes the body to develop an immunity that, in 95% of children, lasts for a lifetime.

A second dose of the vaccine is recommended to protect those 5% who did not develop immunity in the first dose and to give "booster" effect to those who did develop an immune response.

Answer 2

The measles vaccine is typically made using weakened or inactivated measles virus strains. These strains are cultured in a controlled laboratory setting to produce the vaccine. Other ingredients like stabilizers, preservatives, and adjuvants may also be added to the vaccine formulation.