Rubella vaccination of schoolgirls: factors affecting vaccine uptake.
In a national sample of 16-year-old girls who were aged 12 when the rubella vaccine programme was implemented in 1970, 71% were reported to have received rubella vaccine. There was a high regional disparity in the uptake of rubella vaccine: 81% of girls living in Scotland had been vaccinated but only 61% of girls living in Wales. Similarly there was a difference in reported vaccine uptake according to the family social background, the lowest proportion vaccinated came from professional and unskilled manual families. Girls attending independent schools also had a lower vaccine uptake than girls in schools maintained by the local educational authorities. If rubella immunisation is to be effective uptake of vaccine must increase to almost 100%.
D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D012409:Rubella / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012572:School Health Services; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D006113:United Kingdom; D014611:Vaccination