Keeps your child safe from the measles, mumps and rubella. The measles can cause mild symptoms such as fever, rash, eye irritability, cough and runny nose – or more serious implications such as pneumonia, brain damage, seizures and sometimes death. Contracting mumps can lead to meningitis, swollen ovaries or testicles, deafness, and sometimes death. The side effects of rubella are typically mild, but it can cause serious birth defects for a baby in utero. In 1971, the three vaccines became available.