Rubella epidemiology in Lesotho after vaccine introduction: a five-year review, 2018–2022

Abstract Background The rubella virus is a major contributor to birth defects globally and is preventable by vaccination. In 2020, the world was supposed to be free of both rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) however this goal has yet to be realized with only 93 out of 194 WHO member states confirmed rubella-free in 2020. Methods A retrospective measles and rubella case-based surveillance data record review was conducted from 2018 to 2022 to document rubella epidemiology after the introduction of rubella vaccination in Lesotho and progress toward elimination. All samples submitted for surveillance purposes and tested for rubella were considered but only filtered according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Results Of the 1041 samples that were tested for rubella between 2018 and 2022, 10 (1%) were confirmed measles positive and were excluded from further analysis. The median age of the respondents was 6.0 (IQR 4.0–8.0.) years. About 643 (62.4%) of respondents were in the age category of 5 -