Skin rash after vaccination

Definition

A skin rash is one of the typical complaints after vaccination. Mostly a redness accompanied by swelling at the vaccination site occurs. These reactions are even desirable as they show that the body’s own immune system is dealing with the vaccine.

In this respect, this slight redness at the injection site is completely harmless. It usually occurs directly in the days following vaccination and disappears again within a few days. After a vaccination with the combined preparation against mumps, measles and rubella (MMR), a harmless skin rash often appears about a week after the vaccination.

This may be associated with itching or may heal completely without itching. This is the case in about 5% of the vaccinated children, often accompanied by a slight fever and malaise. The symptoms subside after a few days. and skin rash Measles

Causes

The local (local) vaccination reaction, where there is redness and swelling around the injection site, is considered a positive sign because the body responds to the vaccine with a defensive reaction. In this respect, this slight reaction shows that the vaccine is effective and that the body is training its defence cells against the respective pathogen. This ensures protection against infectious diseases.

The redness is often associated with slight pain (similar to the feeling of a sore muscle), but these symptoms are completely harmless and have nothing to do with an intolerance or allergy to the vaccine. The symptoms disappear again after a few days. Another type of rash, which can affect the whole body and not just the vaccination site, is the reaction to a combination vaccination of mumps, measles and rubella.

About 5% of the vaccinated children react to the vaccination with a harmless rash. This appears after about 5 to 10 days and can occur with or without itching. The rash is often accompanied by slight fever and indisposition.

However, the symptoms subside after a few days. Only in very rare cases do serious side effects of the vaccination occur, such as febrile convulsions or meningitis. Another cause of rashes after vaccinations can be an allergy to one of the ingredients of the vaccine.

This occurs in very rare cases and can be noticeable on the skin with a rash, which can also be accompanied by severe itching. The allergic reaction can be a rash, itching and asthma, or even an allergic shock. However, the latter occurs extremely rarely.

In the case of an egg protein allergy, allergic reactions such as skin rash or respiratory tract stenosis may occur if the vaccine was produced in chicken embryos. Such a vaccine may be against influenza or yellow fever, for example. The vaccine against mumps, measles and rubella is bred on so-called chicken fibroblasts, which means that hardly any detectable traces of the chicken protein get into the vaccine. Thus, an allergy to chicken egg protein is no longer an exclusion criterion for MMR vaccination.