Rubella vaccination in India: identifying broad consequences of vaccine introduction and key knowledge gaps.

ABSTRACT: Rubella virus infection typically presents as a mild illness in children; however, infection during pregnancy may cause the birth of an infant with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). As of February 2017, India began introducing rubella-containing vaccine (RCV) into the public-sector childhood vaccination programme. Low-level RCV coverage among children over several years can result in an increase in CRS incidence by increasing the average age of infection without sufficiently reducing rubella incidence. We evaluated the impact of RCV introduction on CRS incidence across India's heterogeneous demographic and epidemiological contexts. We used a deterministic age-structured model that reflects Indian states' rural and urban area-specific demography and vaccination coverage levels to simulate

SUBMITTER: Winter AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6024169 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature