Rubella is one of the leading causes of vaccine-preventable birth defects worldwide. In this video, Dr. Susan Reef, CDC and leading global rubella elimination expert, describes efforts to protect pregnant women and their babies through vaccination.
Highlighted commentary from the transcript:
Rubella is very contagious. If a woman who’s pregnant gets infected during her first trimester or even the first 16 weeks, she may have a baby that’s blind, deaf and has heart problems. It’s one of the leading causes of vaccine preventable birth defects.
When I first started with rubella in 1994, it was on the back-burner. Through a lot of hard work and working with dedicated people, we’ve been able to bring it forward.
At CDC, we provide technical assistance and finding how big of a problem it is in countries that have not introduced the vaccine – Looking at their surveillance systems to see how well vaccine introduction has gone and we help them document elimination of rubella. I do this because I love it. Because I feel like I’m making an impact into people’s lives.
Source: CDC