HHS HealthBeat (November 02, 2009)

Pregnancy and flu shots

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Think of it as added protection. A pregnant woman who gets a flu vaccination builds immunity against the flu – and passes the protection along to her baby.

That’s important for the mom, because pregnancy changes the immune system, so pregnant women can be more severely affected by the flu. And it’s important for the baby, because babies have immature immune systems and are not supposed to get flu vaccinations before they’re 6 months old.

And in addition to seasonal flu, there’s H1N1 or swine flu this year. At Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Kathryn Edwards:  

[Kathryn Edwards speaks] "This is a time that we need to listen to what flu does to pregnant women and to vaccinate both for the usual seasonal disease but also for H1N1."

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: November, 02 2009