Mumps Questions and Answers Information About the Disease and Vaccines

Can someone get mumps more than once?

People who have had mumps are usually protected 

for life against another mumps infection. However, 

second occurrences of mumps do rarely occur.

When did vaccines for measles, mumps, and 

rubella become available?

The first measles vaccines (an inactivated and a live 

virus product) became available in 1963, both of 

which were largely replaced by a further attenuated 

live virus vaccine that was licensed in 1968. The 

mumps vaccine first became available in 1967, fol-

lowed by the rubella vaccine in 1969. These three 

vaccines were combined in 1971 to form the measles-

mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. A vaccine that com-

bines both MMR and varicella (chickenpox) vac-

cines, known as MMRV, became available in 2005.

Single antigen measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines 

are no longer available in the United States.