Effect of rubella vaccination programme in schools on rubella immunity in a general practice population

Between November 1979 and January 1980 all patients aged 13-21 years who attended a general practice in Glasgow were tested for their immunity against rubella (single radial haemolysis test). All of the women in the sample should have been vaccinated at 13 as part of the rubella vaccination programme, which began in Glasgow in 1971. The programme excludes boys. Of the 77 females and 64 male patients studied, nine (11.7%) and 10 (15.6%), respectively, were susceptible to the infection. For only 34 women was evidence of vaccination documented in the practice records, and three of those either had failed to seroconvert or had antibody below detectable values. Overall there was no significant differences between the proportion of men and women who were susceptible to the disease. The rubella vaccination programme had clearly failed to reduce the number of susceptible women in this practice. Hence the immune state of all girls should be checked at about 15 years of age, so that as many as possible may be rendered immune before they leave school.