A precautionary flu shot is especially useful for pregnant women, as a representative study from Norway has now confirmed.
For some years, most doctors think that it makes sense for pregnant women to be vaccinated against the flu. The Static Vaccination Committee (STIKO) of the Robert Koch Institute has since 2010 started to recommend expectant mothers a flu shot if they are pregnant during a typical flu season. Geeta Swamy from the Duke University Hospital in North Carolina welcomes this approach: “This is the information we need when we discuss with our patients the importance of flu vaccination for everyone, especially pregnant women,” she says.
There are still concerns about vaccination for pregnant women in the population. The concern that the vaccine could harm the unborn baby is too great. Denise Jamieson of the US Department of Health CDC wants to dispel this concern. “The vaccine is safe,” she says, pointing to the results of the latest study.
Influenza vaccination: New representative study
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has conducted a comprehensive study on influenza vaccination for pregnant women. For this purpose, the medical data of more than 113,000 pregnant women who received medical treatment in Norway in 2009 and 2010 were evaluated. Analysis of the documentation has shown that the risk to the unborn baby is minimal if a pregnant woman is vaccinated against the flu. Significantly greater, however, is the risk if the expectant mother suffers from the flu during pregnancy. The virus can then be transmitted to the unborn baby and cause serious damage. In the worst case, it can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth. The study by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
An influenza vaccine is especially important for pregnant women. The risk for the unborn baby is many times less with a vaccine than with a flu illness during pregnancy. This was the result of a comprehensive study by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.