Rational strategy for rubella vaccination

Abstract

Current rubella vaccination programmes, devised when knowledge of vaccine characteristics was still incomplete, have not been fully successful in protecting those at maximum risk of the sequelae of rubella infection. Now that more is known of vaccine characteristics and the impact of the initially chosen strategies has been assessed, it is time to modify immunisation strategies, the priorities being first to protect women of childbearing age, and then to interrupt transmission of rubella.