MotherofOne

Hello,

I am brand new to this site today, so you may have had your child vaccinated already, but I thought that I would respond anyway. In the U.S., the first MMR vaccination is given at 15 months. We have a 32 month old son who has had all of his vaccinations, but the MMR vaccine because we want it administered separately. Merck Medco does manufacture it as separate vaccinations, but it's not readily available because it's cost-prohibitive and it's a political issue, for the medical profession denies any link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Over the last several days, I have been trying to get one dosage of each for our son and have been unsuccessful. Merck Medco had run out of the three separate vaccinations in 2002, but now has them available, "in limited supply." Their customer service number is 1-800-672-6372. However, Merck sells the vaccines in boxes of ten; you cannot purchase them as single dosages. To purchase one box of each of the three vaccines costs about $600.00. I have been calling everywhere to see if anyplace has it stocked or can order it for me, but I have not had any luck. I don't want to pay $600.00 for the vaccines, but we feel strongly about not giving him the combined MMR shot. It's been a fiasco and a very eye-opening experience, as I never expected that I would have difficulty procuring this. It's awful. Why bother making it, if none of the pharmacies and doctors' offices are going to carry it? It's all about money, unfortunately. So, that's my situation. I'm going to call some more places, but I'm not hopeful at all now that I'm going to get it. It's very unfortunate, but it's all about money and politics, which is a darn shame.