Inadvertent rubella shot in pregnancy not harmful

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The risk of congenital rubella syndrome or other adverse pregnancy outcomes seems to be negligible in women who receive the rubella vaccine while they are unknowingly pregnant, according to a study conducted in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Costa Rica implemented a nationwide measles-rubella vaccination campaign in May 2001, and developed a protocol to follow-up the vaccinated women who were unknowingly pregnant.

Dr. Maria L. Avila-Aguero of the Costa Rican Ministry of Health and colleagues identified 1,191 mother and child pairs who were unknowingly pregnant at the time of rubella vaccination.

According to the team, "no adverse pregnancy outcome such as miscarriages or congenital rubella syndrome was documented in women who were vaccinated and unknowingly pregnant."

"These results support RA27/3 rubella vaccine safety," Avila-Aguero and colleagues conclude, and they say that inadvertent vaccination in pregnancy is not an indication to terminate the pregnancy.

SOURCE: The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, September 2007.