Who discovered the rubella vaccine, when and how?

Rubella is a single-stranded RNA virus that can spread from person to person through the respiratory route. It usually causes a mild illness. Symptoms include low-grade fever, swollen lymph nodes, followed by a generalized rash. However, if pregnant women get this disease, the effect on the baby they carry in their womb is completely different. Because a baby in the womb whose mother has rubella disease may have symptoms of deafness, mental retardation, cataracts, heart diseases, liver and spleen diseases. The first rubella vaccine developed for this disease was made available in 1965.

The virus, which spread in the rubella epidemic in the United States between 1963 and 1964, caused 30,000 babies to be born with permanent disabilities. This prompted the National Institute of Health to launch a campaign to find a vaccine to cure this disease. Pediatricians Harry Martin Meyer (1928-2001) and Paul Parkman (1932) managed to contain the rubella virus and then went on to develop the first vaccine against rubella. The team developed the virus in cultures of kidney cells from African green monkeys and incorporated each crop into the next. He inoculated the monkeys with High Passage Virus 77 (HPV-77) for two long years. The vaccinated monkeys showed no signs of rubella; however, antibodies against the virus have been developed. Other monkeys in the same cage that were not vaccinated did not contract the disease. In 1965, the team launched the first clinical trials in women and children, showing again that the virus did not spread and that these subjects developed antibodies.

The rubella vaccine was later developed into a vaccine known as MMR, which is used for mumps, measles, and rubella.

https://historyofvaccines.org/diseases/rubella-german-measles

Harry Martin Meyer

https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/25/us/harry-martin-meyer-jr-72-helped-create-rubella-vaccine.html