U.S. National Institutes of Health

Young boy with his “Official Rubella Fighter” card and button, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, November 1970

Courtesy Centers for Disease Control

Afraid of the consequences of rubella, parents eagerly enrolled their children in the vaccination program. When it began in 1969, demand for the shot was immense. Public health professionals vaccinated almost 40 million children in the United States against rubella in just over four years.

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