The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has decided to take steps to assist people who were not vaccinated against German measles, a dangerous illness for pregnant women, due to an amendment of the Preventive Vaccination Law, ministry sources said Friday.
Compulsory rubella vaccinations for female junior high school students were abolished when the vaccination law was revised in 1994. There was no compulsory rubella vaccination for men in Japan.
Those affected by the amendment were people born between April 2, 1979, and Oct. 1, 1987. When the law was amended, the government recommended that these people receive the vaccination when they were between ages 12 and 15.