Pregnancy Planning and Rubella

The time before pregnancy is an ideal time to check your vaccination status and when necessary, have your vaccinations boosted. From a medical point of view, it is advisable to be vaccinated against tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella (German measles) and chickenpox before getting pregnant. Treating any of these infections during pregnancies can be unpleasant and problematic, so it’s important to get treated before you become pregnant.

Many women are immune to rubella because they were vaccinated against it when they were children. If you don’t have any vaccination protection against rubella (check your vaccination records), you should consider having it done. You should refrain from getting pregnant for three months after receiving the vaccination because it takes that long to become effective.

Possible consequence of a rubella infection:

If you become ill with rubella at the beginning of your pregnancy, your baby may suffer serious consequences. An infection during the first eight weeks of pregnancy increases the risk of a miscarriage. In over 70% of cases, an infection during the first twelve weeks results in serious deformities in the child such as deafness, mental damage, and physical deformities.

WARNING: Only have yourself vaccinated if you are in general good health because only intact immune systems respond well to vaccinations.