Rubella immunisation: whose baby?

Only half of girls aged from 11 to 14 years in a new town practice of 11 200 patients were recorded as immunised against rubella in 1979. The practice then assumed responsibility for its rubella immunisations and in four years, by using an age-sex register, achieved a 91% uptake of vaccine in the under 14s. In the over 14s, the practice reduced the number of "rubella risk" patients from 49% to 16%. It is suggested that general practitioners are best placed to implement the rubella immunisation programme successfully, though they will need to be renumerated adequately for this time consuming work.