If you could get pregnant, act now to protect against German measles
Updated 27 June 2022
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Catching rubella (also known as German measles) during pregnancy can very seriously harm your unborn baby.
Two doses of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine can protect you against rubella for life. Make sure you are fully vaccinated before you get pregnant.
Speak to your GP practice to check that you are protected against rubella.
Rubella
Rubella is an infectious disease caused by a virus. It is spread through airborne droplets when infected people cough or sneeze. Whilst successful vaccination means that rubella is now very rare in the UK, it still occurs in other parts of the world. To make sure that rubella stays very rare, it is important that everyone is vaccinated.
It causes a high temperature and a red-pink rash. In most cases, it is a mild infection but if caught during pregnancy it can be harmful to your unborn child.
The harm rubella can cause
Rubella caught in early pregnancy can seriously harm your baby and cause:
- deafness
- eye problems, such as cataracts (cloudy patches on the lens of the eye)
- damage to the heart muscle
- brain damage (for example microcephaly)
It can also lead to the loss of your baby (miscarriage).
The risk of serious harm to the baby is highest if rubella is caught in the early weeks of pregnancy. Rubella infection between 16 and 20 weeks of pregnancy may lead to deafness in the baby but is unlikely to cause other problems.
Rubella after 20 weeks of pregnancy is not known to harm the baby.
Protection against rubella
You need 2 doses of a rubella containing vaccine to make sure you are protected against rubella. This will usually be 2 doses of MMR vaccine.
If you haven’t had them it isn’t too late to have them. You should encourage anyone who might have close contact with you or your partner during pregnancy to check that they are protected against rubella too.
What you should do
If you are unsure which vaccines you have had, speak to your GP to check your immunisation history.
They will help you arrange to have your MMR vaccine if you have not already had 2 doses.
Further information
Visit NHS.UK for more information.