Most people know that getting rubella (a.k.a. German measles) during pregnancy is dangerous, but what about being vaccinated against rubella during pregnancy?
Because acquiring rubella during pregnancy can cause miscarriage and birth defects, many women try to keep up-to-date on MMR vaccinations as a way to decrease the risks. (The "R" in MMR stands for rubella.) The MMR vaccine is prepared with weakened live viruses, so doctors usually advise avoiding pregnancy for at least a month after receiving the vaccine.
But occasionally, women might not be aware that they are pregnant when they are vaccinated -- and then they panic upon learning of the pregnancy. Others might accidentally get pregnant sooner than one month after receiving the MMR vaccine.
If you are in this situation, try not to panic. It is true that your doctor probably advised you to wait before getting pregnant, and also that rubella infection during pregnancy can have some scary effects -- but don't panic quite yet.
The advice to avoid pregnancy after rubella vaccination is based on a theoretical risk of problems rather than documented evidence of risk. In the studies looking at accidental vaccination during pregnancy, none of the subjects gave birth to a baby with congenital rubella syndrome and miscarriage rates were not higher than in the general population. Researchers concluded that the rubella vaccination does not seem to be risky in early pregnancy, but doctors continue to advise caution to be on the safe side -- and they still recommend against vaccinating women known to be pregnant.
In conclusion, if you found out you were pregnant after receiving an MMR vaccination, there's no cause for alarm and chances are that everything will be fine. Be sure to mention the matter to your doctor, however, if it is not already in your file since your doctor may want to do extra monitoring.
Sources:
Badilla, Xiomara, Ana Morice, Maria Avila-Aguero, Elizabeth Saenz, Ilse Cerda, Susan Reef, and Carlos Castillo-Solorzano, "Fetal Risk Associated With Rubella Vaccination During Pregnancy." Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal Sept 2007. Accessed 4 May 2008.
Bar-Oz, Benjamin, Zina Levichek, Myla E. Moretti, Corinna Mah, Stella Andreou, and Gideon Koren, "Pregnancy outcome following rubella vaccination: A prospective controlled study." American Journal of Medical Genetics Aug 2004. Accessed 4 May 2008.
