MMR Vaccination May Protect People From Coronavirus Infection

Doctors and scientists announced on September 3, 2020, they are launching a Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate whether the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine can protect healthcare workers against infection from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This trial aims to enroll up to 30,000 healthcare workers around the world.

“We know that the MMR vaccine is safe, and we think there are two main reasons that it could prevent COVID-19,” said one of the collaborative’s principal investigators, Michael S. Avidan, MBBCh, in a press statement.

“The first is this vaccine includes small amounts of live but very weakened MMR viruses. This type of vaccine appears to strengthen the body’s immune response to infections in general, not just to the viruses in that particular vaccine.”

A 2nd reason the MMR vaccine may be effective is that there are similarities between the weakened viruses in the vaccine and the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. All of these viruses have similar proteins on their surfaces that are involved in infecting cells in the body, so the researchers think that antibodies made in response to the MMR vaccine also may recognize and fight off the SARS-CoV-2 virus.