Who developed the first widely used rubella vaccine?

Stanley Plotkin developed the first widely used rubella vaccine.

Plotkin led the work that produced the RA 27/3 rubella vaccine at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. The vaccine was developed from rubella virus isolated from a fetus infected during the 1964 rubella epidemic. Researchers attenuated the virus in human cells so it could stimulate immunity without causing rubella disease.

The vaccine was licensed in the United States in 1969. Its importance extended beyond preventing a usually mild childhood illness: rubella infection during pregnancy can cause congenital rubella syndrome, including deafness, cataracts, heart defects, and developmental problems.

RA 27/3 became the standard rubella vaccine strain in many countries and was later incorporated into combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination. Maurice Hilleman developed several other major vaccines, but Plotkin is specifically associated with the widely used rubella strain.