Measles vaccine: Can young children get an early dose of the MMR shot?
As measles cases rise, some parents are giving their children the measles vaccine earlier. This bonus dose can be given to kids as young as 6 months.
More measles cases have been reported in the first three months of 2025 than in all of 2024.
Most of the 420-plus cases have been centered around the West Texas outbreak, which has spilled over to neighboring New Mexico and Oklahoma. Other cases in people returning from travel abroad have been reported in a handful of states.
Vaccination is the best way to protect against infection, but the first dose of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine usually isn’t given until a child is 12 to 15 months old. A second dose is given from ages 4 to 6.
That schedule leaves children under 1 vulnerable. Some parents, however, are opting to give their young children a dose of the vaccine ahead of schedule.
Dr. Ana Montanez, a pediatrician at Texas Tech Physicians in Lubbock — an epicenter of the current outbreak — said that parents are calling to request an early dose of the MMR vaccine.
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