SHARES
“Getting vaccination during pregnancy is the best way to protect your newborn baby from influenza and whooping cough infections. Did you know, you are the only one who can give your newborn baby such protection during the early months of life.”
However, the statistics show only about a third of pregnant mothers are getting the necessary vaccination during pregnancy! This is a worrisome number because more mothers and newborn babies are at risk of serious infections that can be very well prevented in the first place.
Why Do We Need Vaccination During Pregnancy?
Our newborn baby has no immunity towards influenza virus and whooping cough. As a result, newborns can get very serious infections. Even if we try to strengthen their immunity by vaccinating newborn babies, it is almost impossible to do when they are too young (less than two months old).
That is why we need the pregnant mother, with her mature immune system to develop the necessary antibodies by vaccination against these viruses and bacteria. These antibodies can then move through the mother’s placenta to the growing foetus. Similarly, during lactation, the mother’s breast milk containing these antibodies can readily protect the newborn baby. As such, the mother’s antibodies can protect the newborn baby during the early crucial months, giving just enough time for the baby to develop his/her own immune system.
On top of that, these vaccines also help boost the pregnant mother’s immune system. This makes it less likely for her to fall sick to serious infection during her pregnancy which may threaten the lives of both herself and her foetus.
Photo by Cristy Bradford from Flickr
Danger of Influenza & Whooping Cough in Pregnancy
Influenza virus can cause severe and life-threatening illness to both the pregnant mother and her newborn baby. About 24-34% of influenza infection requiring hospital admission were pregnant mothers. Having a flu during pregnancy not only may cause serious infection requiring ICU admission, but also risk going into early labor.
In addition, influenza is extremely dangerous to newborn babies younger than 6 months old. It can result in severe lung infection (pneumonia), dehydration, brain swelling and even death.
In this sense, getting a flu vaccine during pregnancy can reduce your risk for severe influenza requiring hospital admission, by 40%. Also, this protects your newborn baby from life-threatening influenza by 72%.
On the other hand, whooping cough can be deadly to newborn babies. About 70% of deaths due to whooping cough happen in newborn babies age less than two months old. It causes serious breathing difficulty to the extent of turning the baby’s face blue. Therefore, by taking whooping cough vaccine during pregnancy, we can prevent up to 78% of these critical infections.
When To Get Vaccinated during Pregnancy
Talk to your doctor and or midwife regarding influenza and whooping cough vaccinations. Generally these two are recommendation for vaccination during pregnancy.
Influenza vaccine can be taken at any stage of pregnancy during the flu season, or for women planning to get pregnant whilst hitting a coming or ongoing the flu season.
For whooping cough, the best time to get vaccination is during third trimester of pregnancy, from 27th weeks to 36th weeks. The reason for this is because the antibodies for whooping cough are short lived in our body. Hence, it is important to repeat the vaccination for every single pregnancy.
Are Vaccines Safe for Pregnancy?
Both vaccines are very safe and are not known to cause whooping cough and influenza during pregnancy. Likewise, they are no incident record of vaccination causing any harm to pregnancy such as low birth weight, preterm labor, etc.
Photo by Cristy Bradford from Flickr
Conclusion
Whooping cough and influenza can cause severe life-threatening infections in newborn babies. Thus it is important for pregnant mothers to get vaccinations. Vaccination helps produce antibodies that can reach our babies through placenta and breast milk. The vaccines are very safe and can effectively protect both the baby and the pregnant mother from serious infections.
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References:
1. Predit R. Only a third of pregnant women getting vaccinations they need [Internet]. U.S. News & World Report LP. 2020. (Available from: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-10-08/only-a-third-of-pregnant-women-getting-vaccinations-they-need; last updated on 2019; last accessed on 2020 May 20)
2. Transcript: Vital Signs – Maternal Vaccination [CDC]. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. 2020. (Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/t1009-vs-maternal-vaccination.html; last updated on 2019 Oct 9; last accessed on 2020 May 20)
by Chang Xian
View all articles by Chang Xian.
