The CDC recommends all women who are or will be pregnant during influenza season receive a routine influenza vaccination. Not only can the vaccine help keep soon-to-be mothers healthy, new research published in the journal Pediatrics shows the vaccine can protect babies from the flu during their first six months of life.
Researchers examined data on nearly half a million women and infants admitted to Salt Lake City-based Intermountain facilities between December 2005 and March 2014. Overall, roughly 10 percent of the pregnant women studied had reported an influenza immunization.
"Babies cannot be immunized during their first six months, so they must rely on others for protection from the flu during that time," said lead author, Julie H. Shakib, DO. "When pregnant women get the flu vaccine there are clear benefits for their infants."
Highlighted below are three findings from the study on how the mothers' vaccination status affected the babies studied.
1. Infants six months and younger born to women who were vaccinated against the flu when pregnant had a 70 percent reduction in laboratory-confirmed flu cases compared to the infants of non-vaccinated women
2. The babies of vaccinated mothers also saw an 80 percent reduction in flu-related hospitalizations compared with babies whose moms weren't immunized
3. Additionally, 97 percent of the laboratory-confirmed flu cases occurred in infants whose mothers were not immunized while pregnant.
"We just really hope more pregnant women get the vaccine," said Dr. Shakib. "That's the take-home message of the study."
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