Q: I am a 5 months pregnant, 27 years old woman and I have a 15 months old child. My son has been given the MMR vaccine. If I take the MMR vaccine, am I putting my unborn child at any risk?

A:You definitely must not take a live vaccine like MMR. Your 15 month old child can excrete a virus after immunisation and thus theoretically can present a risk of you catching the infection from the vaccine virus, if you are unprotected. If you have received immunization for measles, mumps and rubella (German measles) or have definitely contracted these diseases, then there is no issue and your 15 month old child can be immunized. If you do not remember or are not willing to take a very small theoretical risk for the unborn child then it would be desirable to wait till the delivery occurs if your elder child has already been immunized for measles.