TOKYO REPORT: Men aged 39-56 to get free shots for rubella

April 9, 2019

Tokyo--The health ministry has decided to offer free rubella vaccinations for three years to men who were not given the opportunity to be immunized through regular public vaccination programs, hoping to halt the further spread of the disease in Japan.

In 2018, 2,917 people were reported infected with rubella, up from 93 the previous year. The epidemic shows no signs of abating, with the number of rubella patients reported from the start of this year through March 24 reaching 1,033, according to the National Institute for Infectious Diseases.

The number stood at 74 for the week through March 24 and has ranged from 48 to 125 per week so far this year, the institute said.

The rubella virus is usually spread through the air via coughing by infected people. After an incubation period of two to three weeks, it causes such symptoms as rashes, swollen lymph nodes and fever. Some people are infected with rubella and acquire immunity without showing obvious symptoms of the disease.

If unborn babies are infected with rubella through their mothers in the first 20 days or so of pregnancy, they may be born with symptoms of congenital rubella syndrome, such as hearing impairment, heart disorders and cataracts.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, an outbreak of rubella occurred in 2012 and 2013, with 2,386 and 14,344 infected people reported, respectively. A total of 45 babies were born with CRS in the three years through 2014 and 11 of them died within 15 months of birth.

To prevent rubella, two vaccinations per person are considered effective. But pregnant women cannot be vaccinated and women need to avoid pregnancy for two months after vaccination.

At present, children are vaccinated twice--when they are one year old and in the year before entering elementary school--through regular public vaccination programs administered under the immunization act. In the period from August 1977 through March 1995, however, female junior high school students alone were vaccinated and only once.

Men aged between 39 and 56 as of March, therefore, were not given the opportunity to get vaccinations and about 80 pct of them are immune to rubella, a lower rate than people of other generations.

The current spread of the disease is mainly caused by unvaccinated men in this age bracket.

The health ministry thus will offer vaccinations under the law for men born between April 2, 1962, and April 1, 1979, at no charge in principle for three years through the end of March 2022, with an eye toward immunizing at least 85 pct of men in the targeted age group by the opening of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in July 2020.

To make efficient use of the rubella vaccine, men in the target group will receive antibody tests and get vaccinations if these turn out negative.

In fiscal 2019, which ends in March 2020, the vaccination program will focus on men aged between 39 and 46, to avoid confusion. Older men wishing to get vaccinations in the year need to apply individually to their municipal governments.

"Vaccinations administered to women and family members of pregnant women alone are not enough to stop an epidemic of rubella," said Kayo Kani, the 65-year-old leader of a group working for eradication of the disease.

"Men in their 30s through 50s should get vaccinations on every account," stressed Kani, who was infected with rubella in pregnancy and whose daughter was born disabled as a result and died young.Jiji Press