Usual symptoms

• About 50 per cent of people who have rubella get a rash and painful, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy).
• About 90 per cent of babies who get rubella infection during the first three months of their mother's pregnancy are born deaf, blind, with a heart defect, or with other major abnormalities (congenital rubella syndrome).

Rare symptoms

• About 0.016 per cent of people who have a rubella infection develop swelling in the brain (a dangerous condition called encephalitis, commonly known as ‘brain inflammation’).
• Rubella infection can cause a blood disorder called thrombocytopenia. Thrombocytopenia causes children to bruise or bleed very easily. It usually lasts for between one and six months and then gets better.

In Australia, children receive the MMR vaccine which strengthens immunity to rubella, mumps, measles; and the MMRV vaccine which also strengthens immunity to varicella (chickenpox).

It is recommended that children get a vaccine that protects against rubella at 12 months and 18 months .

It is important that children get all their vaccinations on time to ensure they have the  best possible protection against infectious diseases.

No, there is no risk that your child will catch rubella because the rubella-containing combination vaccines, MMR and MMRV, only contain a weakened version of the rubella virus. This weakened virus trains your child’s immune system to recognise the virus and fight the disease, but does not cause the disease. Rarely, children receiving the vaccine may develop swelling of the glands, or swelling and pain in their joints, similar to rubella disease, but they fully recover.

Children with cancer or serious immune system diseases should not have live vaccines, including MMR and MMRV, as they can become very unwell. Your immunisation provider will screen for these conditions before giving your child their vaccine.  

• About 10 per cent of children who get a vaccine that protects against rubella  experience local swelling, redness or pain at the injection site. These symptoms usually resolve within one or two days.   
• Between 5 and 15 per cent get a high fever and tiredness or lack of energy (malaise) between 5 and 12 days after they get the first dose of the vaccine.
• About 5 per cent get a rash which cannot spread to anyone else.
• Side effects are more common after the first dose of a vaccine that protects against rubella, recommended at 12 months.

• Up to 1.6 per cent get swollen glands, a stiff neck or joint pains.
• About 0.03 per cent of children who get a first dose of a vaccine that protects against rubella experience febrile convulsions (fits). These happen when a baby or child's temperature (fever) goes up suddenly. Febrile convulsions don’t have long-term effects on a child’s health and development. 
• Between 0.003 and 0.005 per cent develop a blood disorder called thrombocytopenia (a low platelet count in the blood) after their first dose of the MMR vaccine. Thrombocytopenia causes children to bruise or bleed very easily. It usually lasts for between one and six months and then gets better.
• About 0.0001 per cent of people have an allergic reaction following vaccination  that affects their whole body, called anaphylaxis. This reaction usually happens within 15 minutes of getting the vaccination and can be treated with an injection of adrenaline. People who have this reaction usually recover quickly and don’t experience any long-term effects.

The rates of rubella have fallen rapidly since a rubella vaccine was registered in 1970, and continues to remain at very low levels. ^2,3