I had the mmr when it was in it's infancy as I slipped through the net for the Rubella jab as I moved abroad. I had the mmr in my late teens.
I didn't hesitate to give my children all the jabs that were offered. I have been in some severely poor countries and seen young children and babies suffering from viruses such as measles and mumps, diptheria etc etc and I decided that even if the urban myth were true and the MMr caused autism (which I don't think is accepted as true now) even if it were true, I would rather have an autistic child than a sick, handicapped, blind, deaf or dead child. I just measured the risks really.
I also reasoned in my brain that the government give us so little things free and routine these days, kids don't have milk, we don't get free dental, or sight tests, very few preventative medecines are available routinely, I felt that if they were offereing these then the illnesses must be a big deal.
I know of children also who have had the jabs and still gone on to contract measles etc (as we are now entering epidemic proportions again from the opting out) and they had them so mildly they were hardly anymore sick than if they had a really bad cold. However, I also know a lady who had measles at the age of 3 and she is now in her 60s. After she recovered from the virus and the fever her parent's realised she was also now profoundly deaf. Previously, she had been hearing and talking.
However, i do also feel that parent's should NOT be treated with contempt for opting out. It is everyone's choice as to what is best for their child. I feel very strongly about preventative medecine probably as I spent alot of time in Eastern cultures and there preventative medecine is high the agendas, much like it is on the continent, but I do also respect the choices of other parents too. And I don't have to worry if my kids were playing with a child who was incubating mumps, they wouldn't