Feasibility of a rubella screening and vaccination programme for unvaccinated young women.

The feasibility of a rubella screening and vaccination programme for unvaccinated young women was assessed after the 2004/2005 epidemic in The Netherlands. All 640 young women in two villages with low vaccination coverage were invited for a rubella seroprevalence test. Information on vaccination status was gathered by written questionnaire. Women testing seronegative were offered free rubella vaccination. The feasibility of the programme was evaluated in terms of participation, rubella susceptibility, and acceptance of the vaccination offer by seronegative women. The participation rate was 48% [95% confidence interval (CI) 44-52] with 108 unvaccinated participants. Eleven per cent (95% CI 6-19) of the women were identified as susceptible to rubella, of whom 17% (95% CI 2-48) accepted the vaccination offer. In the end only 0.9% (95% CI 0.1-2.5) of the target population was given protection by the programme. Under the present conditions this programme proved to be an inefficient strategy for rubella protection.