A licensed vaccine to prevent measles first became available in 1963, an improved measles vaccine in 1968. Vaccines for the mumps and rubella became available in 1967 and 1969, respectively.The three vaccines (for mumps, measles, and rubella) were combined in 1971 to become the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.The MMR vaccine is generally administered to children around the age of one year, with a second dose before starting school (i.e. age 4/5).The second dose is a dose to produce immunity in the small number of persons (2–5%) who fail to develop measles immunity after the first dose.he MMR vaccine is an immunization vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles) . It is a mixture of live attenuated viruses of the three diseases, administered via injection. It was first developed by Maurice Hilleman while at Merck.