AskDrSears - The Vaccine Book: Finding MMR Vaccines Separated

Finding MMR Vaccines Separated

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

How can I get separate Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccines if my doctor won’t order it for me?

Many parents now want to split up the MMR vaccine into separate components and give them separated each by a year. However, a doctor can’t order just single doses of each shot through the regular channels. They have to get 10 doses of each, and if there are only one or two patients in the office that want them separated, the doctor eats the cost of the unused shots. So most doctors, understandably, won’t do that.

Here are some ways that patients have found they can get the shots separately:

1. Go to a vaccine clinic at a large university hospital. I know one near where I practice that offers them separately.

2. Go to a travel clinic where people usually go to get unusual travel vaccines prior to international travel. Some of these carry the separate M, M, and R.

3. Ask your doctor to write you a prescription for each shot and try to get it filled through a pharmacy. You would bring the shot back to your doctor’s office (making sure you keep it a refrigerator temperature – 36 to 46 degrees F or 2 to 8 degrees Celsius) for the nurse to administer.

4. Ask for a prescription, but get it filled through an online medical supply company or online pharmacy. They can ship it directly to your doctor’s office (shipping isn’t cheap though). One such company that I know of is American Medicine, Inc. in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You can find them on Google.

5. Check out our Vaccine-Friendly Doctor’s list to see if there’s anyone within driving distance for you. They typically would need you to become a patient and get checkups there in order to provide you with vaccines.

6. If you can’t find the separate shots anywhere, ask your doctor to start a list of like-minded patients and just skip the full MMR for now. Chances are over the next year or two the list will grow to include 10 patients. Delaying your baby’s protection for a year wouldn’t be too risky since the diseases are very rare.

Cost – I know it costs my office about between 35 and 50 dollars for each vaccine, so you can expect to pay at least this much plus whatever markup your provider deems appropriate.

Dr. Bob

14 Comments:

At February 13, 2008 7:29 AM , Kelly, Grey and Reed said...

My 29 month old has all vaccines EXCEPT the MMR. I am ready to sign a religious waiver when he goes to school, but I did want to do a year of preschool, so I think I may be stuck. Is splitting the shots my best option and if so, do I have to spread them over years? What's a safe schedule for these three?

I also have a 14 week old that I am going to delay/use your alternative schedule outlined in your book.

I want to be pro vaccinations but they just scare me.
At February 13, 2008 1:10 PM , Natalie said...

Dr. Sears,
Is it true that supplementation with high dose (200,000-400,000 IU) of vitamin A per day for two consecutive days helps to prevent side effects of the measles shot?
Thank you in advance.
At February 13, 2008 8:29 PM , Dr. Bob Sears said...

Natalie - NO NO NO. This HIGH DOSE regimen is for kids with autism who regressed after the MMR shot.
I would NOT recommend it for neurotypical children during the MMR shot.

Kelly - you may be able to find a preschool that lets you in without the shot. But if you need to get it, try to put at least 6 months between each and do Mumps, Rubella, then Measles.
At February 13, 2008 8:34 PM , Rachel said...

I really appreciated your book on Vaccines...in fact I was talking outloud to my husband about how I wish the Sears would do a vaccine book, and he looked it up, and pre-ordered a copy before it came out! So THANK YOU THANK YOU for doing it!!!!
I asked my pediatrician today if I could break up the MMR immu, and he told me to look else where for a pediatrician if I wasn't going to "fully immunize my child." He (or any other doctor there during my visits in the past) didn't even ask why, or how educated I was on the subject...how dissapointing!
I was so blindsided by this, as I had researched this office thoroughly before bringing my children there 2 1/2 years ago.
ANyone else had this problem? I'm angry, hurt and feeling like a criminal! I would like to voice my dissapointment to the head doctor there, or the manager but don't know how to go about it.
I know this has probably been discussed in past posts, could you direct me to the best place to look? Thank you!!! I lvoe the book!! What a lifesaver to my sanity!!
At February 20, 2008 10:30 AM , Lady Why said...

Hi Rachel,

I've had your same experience. My pediatrician of 14 years has been very unfriendly to changing the "way we've always done it" and it's created a bit of tension. But, in our area, we have no pediatricians 'friendly' to an alternate vaccine schedule. At least he's letting us do it and hasn't asked us to leave... yet. ~wink~ In fact, I just came in this morning from taking my 7 month old for his HIB and Pc. I am following Dr. Sears alternate schedule except that we are skipping the Rotavirus since we are not in a 'high risk' environment for that... and it's just too new for my comfort level.

Dr. Sears,

Thank you, thank you and a thousand times THANK YOU for writing this book!!! I have read each and every book on this subject and your book is the most balanced and objective look at vaccines I have ever had! Your book is a breath of fresh air and I am so grateful for this resource! I even bought a copy to give as a baby shower gift next weekend to a mom that was asking me questions about vaccinations recently. You'll never know how much you helped us in making the decisions about vaccinations for our baby boy!

Bless you!!
At February 24, 2008 7:32 AM , Anonymous said...

Thank you for this book, I just wish I had this knowledge 5 years ago! I asked and trusted my doctor's judgement about vaccinations many times especially having a friend who doesn't vaccinate their child. Their reason because of mercury and autism, when I told them mercury was not in many vaccinations, they said it was replaced by aluminum. I did my research again and found that aluminum was always in vaccinations, made them work better, and that infant formula had about 225 micrograms/32 oz so it most likely wasn't harmful. It made me wondered if my friend really knew the full facts. I went to the CDC's web site, etc to look up information and asked my doctor. That was two years ago. Now,after reading your book and having all the information in front of me, I have learned that two of my children recieved about 1000 micrograms at each of the three infant vaccinations, totally around 3000 micrograms by 6 months. My doctor uses a 5 shot combo with 850 micrograms of aluminum but doesn't really tell you this, I always get the vaccination records but it is divided up as individual shots expect for MMR and Comvax. I would love to follow the alternative schedule and not give anymore vaccinations until 11 years after a blood test reveals the need for the MMR, my state does require the shots so I may have to try a new religion. I tried to do all the right things for my children, breastfeeding until 15 months, watching what I eat, and what they eat (to a point). I am a hemodialysis Nutritionist who has experience with the alumunum based binders and problems associated with them. Despite having full normal kidney function but nonetheless small infant kidneys, I hope I didn't harm my children because I wasn't educated enough on vaccinations. Thank you again for this book, I'm going to try to follow the alternative schedule in your book for my children's remaining vaccinations, waiting until pre-teen for the MMR/chicken pox if I can for my 11 month old son, stopping further DTaP's (they all had three), and trying to get away without doing the second MMR shot for my 5 and 3 years old daughters. I doubt my physician or any in my area will work with me on this.
At February 24, 2008 7:01 PM , Anonymous said...

Dr. Bob

Hopewell Pharmacy in NJ has the measles, mumps, and rubella as seperate vaccines. All they need is a prescription which can be faxed to them and they will ship the vaccine to the patient's home.

www.hopewellrx.com
At February 26, 2008 9:38 AM , jenna said...

Dr Sears - thank you so much for the updates to the blog. My baby is coming up on her one year shots and I have decided to delay the MMR in the hopes of finding a way to get them for her separated. I did talk to her pediatrician about it and she said there is no way she could get them separate. She actually told me they don't make them separate. I will have to look up in your book the maker of the separate vaccines. My guess is it's a company they don't order from :(
At February 26, 2008 6:55 PM , Anonymous said...

Merck makes the vaccines seperately
At February 28, 2008 11:31 PM , Anonymous said...

You parents are not very intelligent but you think you are because you can read web pages. Have you ever seen a child die from measles? Have you ever seen a brain damaged microcephalic baby born to a mom with rubella? Pediatricians who understand that there is NO LINK between autism and vaccines are tired of you wasting their time with your banterings and blatherings and all the "'stuff you read on the internet". I just hope they made you sign a waive of stupidity about not vaccinating so you don't come back and sue them if your child gets measles, which is still out there and still fatal. Stop listening to media celebs on Oprah and fashionable docs with big web pages who aren't in the trenches any more and start realizing that once you all drop the vaccination rates below ~85%, these diseases will come roaring back into the population and do the damage so few remember them doing.
At March 4, 2008 7:46 AM , Anonymous said...

Ouch !!
At May 8, 2008 10:11 PM , Parkers_Mommy said...

Looks like "anonymous feb 28th" had a lot to share but didn't bother to leave his name or note his credentials. "W'.

I have a 7 month old and am now following the alternative vax schedule. I would like to get the MMR split up but currently, my doc does not offer it. He said we have some time to consider. In any case, with the recent measles outbreak, I am wondering if the order of the separated MMR should be changed? It states mumps, rubella, and then measles. Anyone know? I searched this site high and low, and can't find a reference!
At April 2, 2009 3:35 PM , Anonymous said...

Have delayed MMR because my child was showing signs of autism before age of 1. She is now 3 and has been diagnosed with Celiac and is doing great, but still has not had MMR. Book mentioned that MMR can cause more reactions when intestines aren't at peak health. Reading that, I am very glad that I delayed MMR. And if that is the case, is there any relation between a child with undiagnosed celiac having the MMR and serious reactions or even autism?
At July 23, 2009 2:37 PM , plus said...

Went to get the SEPARATE mumps vaccine for my 14-month old twins this week (mid July, 2009), and our doctor told us she can no longer get the mumps vaccine separately - that Merck stopped making them at the end of 2008.

I just got off the phone with the national service center of Merck themselves, who confirms that, and says that they MIGHT start making the separate ones again at some point, "when we have enough manufacturing capacity", but that current utilization predications place that at least two years out - so maybe (or maybe not) in 2011. This (supposedly) is because they've given priority to the MMR combo, and don't have enough manufacturing capacity to do both.

I also called the Hopewell, NJ pharmacy referenced above by "Anonymous" back on 24-Feb-08, and they have a distinct prompt on their answering system for this specific question, saying they ran out of the separate vaccines in Feb, 09, and referring all callers on that subject to Merck itself.

I'm going to keep hunting for any lingering supplies of the separate vaccines (maybe overseas?), but it doesn't look promising. At least we have several years before my twins have to go to school & adhere to the state vaccination mandates...

Paul