Rubella vaccine

[HopeNotTooLate46]

Anyone know where to get the rubella only vaccine? I was just about to start down regulation when nurse spotted no detectable rubella antibodies. Now I'm stressed and anxious they've known for 3 months since I had my bloods

[Rollercoastersmiles]

hey. I had to get the rubella vaccine too. I spoke to my GP and they gave me a dose of the MMR. It was pretty easy and to my memory had no side effects. I’m not sure you can get a rubella vaccine alone. I queried it with my clinic and they said that I’d get a dose of the MMR. It has to be given 1 month before transfer from memory so you should have time if you get it now.

[HopeNotTooLate46 in reply to Rollercoastersmiles]

Thank you Rollercoastersmiles for experience and advice. I haven't been able to get an answer about rubella only. They only say they have MMR but that's 2 doses. So that's good to know by taking 1 dose that's enough for protection. I might just go private in that case as GP has long waiting list

[HopeNotTooLate46 in reply to HopeNotTooLate46]

Also I'm a bit annoyed, I've paid privately for this treatment. We had the blood back in July and no-one picked up this issue until I'm about to start the buserelin today (obviously not today)

[Rollercoastersmiles in reply to HopeNotTooLate46]

yea! Really annoying! I hope it doesn’t delay you too much! For me, I had a blood test at the GP in sept 2020 which showed I did have immunity, and then just before I started my meds, another blood test showed no immunity! We were told that I could choose to continue without having it done, and would have done (we researched I think there are about 3 cases of rubella in the uk per year) but then I had a freeze all cycle, so got the vaccine between egg collection and transfer.

[HopeNotTooLate46 in reply to Rollercoastersmiles]

Thank you. That would have been good to know that the number of cases is low. I just had a look and it was 0 in 2021 and 2020 - not sure if thats because loads of people are vaccinated or just that the bug is not in UK. I'm disappointed in the clinic how they surprised me and then how they 'educated me' more like scare me. My husband was away to get the drugs.

[soccerkt6]

Sorry to hear this, the same thing happened to me and it was so frustrating!

Did you have the MMR vaccine as a child? If you can provide records that showed you received the vaccine in the past, your clinic may consider that acceptable proof to move forward. A small percentage of people just don’t develop antibodies even after having the 2-dose vaccine. In my case - even though I received the MMR jabs as a child - I just asked my GP for a booster MMR dose which they were happy to do and which did the trick. As rollercoaster said, I’m not sure you can get a rubella-only vaccine xx

[HopeNotTooLate46 in reply to soccerkt6]

Clinic were happy to go ahead with or without the vaccination. Not even sure why they tested if they chose not to check the result. I've literally checked every pharmacy going they all say MMR - no such thing as rubella only vaccine. I would have thought the doctors/nurses would have given me the correct vaccine name before sending us a stressful chase. Thank you soccerkt6 for sharing

[Twiglet2]

it’s the MMR you need to get now but if you can get your records from your GP to show you’ve had it they should accept that. If you’ve only had one (that was what I found) then your GP/nurse can do another one fairly quickly but you have to wait 4 weeks after it before transfer xx

[HopeNotTooLate46 in reply to Twiglet2]

Thank you Twiglet2. I've had a look on my NHS account unfortunately it doesn't go that far back. Now I just need to work out the next cycle.

[Floraandfauna]

ahh That’s so annoying for you- the same thing happened to me, it’s so frustrating because it seems like such a small thing. I got a booster from the gp and my clinic were happy to start after that, providing there was a month between booster and transfer. Good luck!

[Riri88]

hi hun, ooh my that must be soo frustrating! I don’t know about IVF and one dose but I did have the MMR as a child but during trying naturally and after an early miscarriage it was picked up almost random that I didn’t have immunity (I always tend to be in the 1-2% group it seems) and I did needed to have the 2 doses of MMR again and indeed they did say not to try to get pregnant till 1 month after the last dose.

As it was during my times before IVF I don’t know if they are more acceptable of 1 dose and proof of child vaccination.

It is probably better though to have the vaccin before IVF as even though rare, in the smallest chance it could impact your baby if you do get pregnant and get rubella it would be even more horrible and not worth the risk.

[Koala365]

If you are 46 (like me) as your name suggests and in England, we were given a single dose of the rubella vaccine at school in our first year of secondary school, aged 11 (unless your mother opted you out of it like mine did!) That information might help you guide your GP's surgery to the relevant part of your notes which will have been in hard copy form (but now scanned to the system) back then. That said, if you have no discernable antibodies, it sounds as though you would be at risk of catching rubella while pregnant, and given that caused harm to the baby (or just that the baby is deaf if you get it after 20 weeks I believe) then you might want to get the jab anyway. I was once told they have stopped producing the single vaccines and only do the MMR now so even if you have had the measles vaccine (which we were offered as babies/ toddlers) and had mumps, you would need to have that. So annoyingly you might prefer to crack on and get the MMR privately. I hope you are able to get this sorted either way soon. I feel your pain at having to delay a cycle like this and for something that the clinic should have picked up ages ago! Xx

[Albs171]

I had to get that… even though I’d had MMR!

Just GP did it. Very speedy… and then I think you can start treatment 28 days later x

[Lamagarden]

I had the vaccination as a child but no proof, so had it again at the very beginning of fertility treatment. However, after having two doses I showed no immunity and was told I don’t hold immunity, apparently it’s unusual but some people don’t take up immunity after having the vaccination.

[KatRee84]

Unfortunately I’ve heard about people coming up against this issue before and having to get the two doses of the MMR before starting treatment. My clinic never actually tested for rubella antibodies and when I asked they said they didn’t bother with it anymore as rubella is so rare nowadays, the risk is very small. A lot of clinics tell people it’s a requirement, but according to mine it isn’t. So I went ahead with treatment without knowing if I had antibodies or not, although I was hopeful that I did having had German measles and the MMR vaccine as a child. Is it possible they may let you make a personal decision on whether to proceed with the treatment without the vaccine?

[HopeNotTooLate46 in reply to KatRee84]

A research later, the number of rubella cases per year in England and Wales was 0 in 2020 and 0 in 2021, so the chances are low. But i agree its not worth going through all this to maybe get pregnant and then end up with issues down the line. My logical (science) brain kicked in while with the doctor or nurse but I was so frustrated and confused - they were happy to let me carry on and offered to freeze eggs/embryos. But then other worries came to mind like defrosting freezers. So we decided on postponing, although now I'm thinking with 4 follicles at my age of 46, I should have carried on. Have to say the pressure of making the right choices for IVF are overwhelming

Thank you KatRee84