Bruce Beichner, 5, receives a rubella immunization shot from nurse Mrs. Robert Stock in this photo from May 17, 1970. His sister, Diane, is at right. Butler Eagle file photo

Butler County took part in the Rub Out Rubella campaign in May 1970, when 10,141 children received their immunization for the “German measles.”

About 275 physicians, teachers and nurses staffed clinics at six schools across the county for the campaign, giving free immunization shots to children from birth to age 10.

The drive was designed to thwart recurrence of an epidemic like the ones seen in 1964 and 1965, in which about 50,000 babies in the U.S. were born dead or with organic defects because of Rubella.

A fee of $2 was requested from parents bringing their children in for a shot, but the vaccine was free for anyone within the age bracket.