Is post partum rubella vaccination worthwhile?

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Abstract
This study was designed to determine whether a program of screening for rubella antibodies during pregnancy, coupled with selective vaccination after delivery, could effectively increase herd immunity. One thousand women were studied when they returned for further antenatal care after having been screened, and possibly vaccinated, during an earlier pregnancy. Overall, the program was shown to be 83% effective since 108 women were truly seronegative in their initial pregnancies and 90 of them had been rendered immune by the time of their next pregnancy. The 18 failures of the program were attributed to the hemagglutination inhibition test employed (8 cases), failure to administer vaccine (7 cases) and true vaccine failures (3 cases). Five pregnant women became infected with rubella virus during the study but all were in their initial pregnancies. All seronegative women were shown to follow the instruction not to become pregnant within 3 mo. of vaccination. Evidently, a program of screening for immunity, together with selective vaccination post partum, can significantly reduce both the number of susceptible women and the number who experience rubella infection during pregnancy. Such programs should be vigorously encouraged as a means of helping to prevent congenital rubella.

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