Outbreaks have forced the closure of schools and hostels for weeks in Alappuzha, Thrissur and Kottayam. The continuing mumps outbreak in Keralam, which began in late 2023 and has persisted into 2026, has renewed demands for including the mumps-measles-rubella (MMR) vaccine in the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).
The demand has gained strength following studies from Keralam documenting immunity gaps among children, complications that can cause long-term disability, and genetic differences between the circulating mumps virus and the strain used in the vaccine, indicating how the continued exclusion of the MMR vaccine from the UIP represented an important gap in disease prevention. the UIP provides two doses of the measles-rubella (MR) vaccine, which does not protect against mumps Although a time-tested combined MMR vaccine is available. The Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) has long recommended MMR in place of MR, a vaccine combination available to children through the private sector since the 1980s. The researchers emphasised the need for continued molecular surveillance to track viral evolution and evaluate the current vaccination strategy. However, genetic differences alone do not establish that the vaccine is ineffective. The study noted that available seroepidemiological evidence and outbreak patterns indicate a considerable mumps burden. The continued exclusion of a mumps vaccine from the UIP, it suggested, leaves an important gap in disease prevention.
Because of its low mortality, despite being vaccine-preventable, mumps has remained a relatively low priority in India’s immunisation policy, largely. Because clinical cases, complications and long-term outcomes are inadequately documented, it has argued that mumps’ public health significance is underestimated. A study by the Keralam unit of the National Institute of Virology, published in Infection, Genetics and Evolution in September 2026, adds another dimension to the debate. Molecular characterisation of mumps viruses circulating in Keralam during 2024–25 identified genotype C, genetically different from genotype N (L-Zagreb), the strain used in the mumps vaccine.
In a response to the Tamil Nadu government obtained through an RTI application, the Centre said decisions on introducing vaccines under the UIP consider disease prevalence and incidence, mortality, vaccine efficacy and cost-effectiveness, among other factors.
