AIBU?
No immunity to Rubella after repeated vaccinations?
CloudyDayForecast · 20/04/2021 11:14
I had the rubella vaccine as a child and now have 3 dc.
- When pregnant with DC1, blood tests showed I had no rubella immunity. So they vaccinated me again.
- 4 years later, pregnant with DC2, same thing and so was vaccinated, again.
- Then 7 years later, pregnant with DC3, blood test apparently showed immunity for Rubella, finally!
- 3 years later, just had some blood tests done and practise nurse said I am not immune to Rubella again.
Decided not to bother with the MMR vaccination this time, am I aibu?
Anyone has experience of this or know what causes it?
Cabinfever10 · 20/04/2021 12:05
As with all vaccines they won't work for everyone there will always be people who are unable to gain or retain an immunity to any given virus. My friend like yourself has had multiple MMR vaccinations but has no measles immunity and my sister has had chicken pox 8 times she just needs to be in contact with someone whose been in contact with chicken pox and she gets them.
I read somewhere (sorry can't remember where) that they expect about 1-2% of people will be unable to produce an immunity to common viruses (not sure what classes a virus as common or not)
Inneedoflifeadvice · 20/04/2021 14:14
I had the MMR as a child and caught Rubella two years ago from my nephew.
I would have the MMR again if you are planning to get pregnant again though as obviously it can cause miscarriages.
I guess if not then it's a personal choice. I know a lot of adults get few symptoms with Rubella but I actually found it pretty horrible- I had a measles-like rash, a really painful cough (I've never found that coughing hurts before despite my cough-variant asthma), viral conjunctivitis (so both eyes had conjunctivitis but antibiotic drops wouldn't have helped) and a bad headache.
Soubriquet · 20/04/2021 14:41
I had the MMR as a baby, and had no immunity either when I was pregnant with my second child. I don’t know why it wasn’t picked up with my first though 
I had to have an injection before I left hospital. I haven’t had anymore children so I don’t know if I’m still not immune
uhtredsonofuhtred1 · 20/04/2021 15:50
I researched it a little bit after having the same problem and apparently there's a small % of the population that just don't develop immunity after the vaccine. I've had my 2 doses as a child and then 3 more as an adult after pregnancies. It still showed no immunity in my 4th pregnancy but I decided not to bother. I don't think it'll work after 5 attempts
bigbluebus · 20/04/2021 18:55
My old GP told me that the reason they give everyone 2 MMR vaccinations is because 5% of people will not get immunity from the 1st jab and jabbing everyone a second time is easier (and no doubt cheaper) than checking everyone's immune response after the 1st. He also said that even after a 2nd dose a percentage of that 5% will still fail to become immune. So it is well known that a small proportion of people will not get any immunity from the vaccination
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