12 Jul 2018

Cooks lift MMR vaccine suspension

8:47 am on 12 July 2018

The Cook Islands has lifted a suspension on the MMR vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

Vaccination

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The suspension was briefly imposed following the deaths of two infants in Samoa after they received the MMR vaccine.

The Cook Islands Secretary for Health, Josephine Aumea Herman, said checks had revealed that stocks of the MMR vaccine in the Cooks did not come from the same batch that had been recalled in Samoa.

Dr Aumea Herman said the Cook Islands had a 100 percent MMR infant vaccination rate.