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Johns Hopkins Children's Center urges pregnant mothers to get H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines
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Pregnant woman receiving examination.
Expectant mothers who are on-the-fence about the risks of getting flu vaccine injections now have more information to act on getting their flu shots. Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, Emory University and Cincinnati Children's Hospital agree that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advice to make pregnant women the highest-priority group to receive both H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines is solid.
After scouring published research and data from prior flu seasons, the researchers published results of their review in the October 22 online issue of The American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The review concludes that pregnant women are at higher risk of having complications from the flu. This includes the possibility of death. For pregnant women, this risk is much higher than any potential risks of side effects from vaccine injections with killed virus.
"The lessons learned from flu outbreaks in the distant and not-too-distant past are clear and so are the messages," says lead investigator Pranita Tamma, M.D., an infectious disease specialist at Hopkins Children's. "If you are an expectant mother, get vaccinated. If you are a physician caring for pregnant women, urge your patients to get vaccinated."
Despite the fact that there are not yet published results of H1N1 vaccine safety for pregnant women, Dr. Tamma said that the H1N1 vaccine is made by the same strict standards as seasonal flu vaccines. "...we expect it [H1N1vaccine] to have a very similar safety profile as the other flu vaccines," said Tamma.
A few of the review findings include:
* In the first four months of the H1N1 flu outbreak this spring, pregnant women were hospitalized at four times the rate as other healthy adults, according to the CDC.
* Pregnant women made up 13% of all H1N1 deaths during that period, and most of the women who died were previously healthy.
* Pregnant women do not get infected with the flu at higher rates than other adults, but they develop more serious complications and more often. Pregnant women with underlying conditions such as asthma or diabetes are at even higher risk for complications.
* Eleven clinical studies closely followed pregnant women and/or their fetuses after vaccination and found no evidence of harmful side effects in either the mother or the fetus.
Additional details can be found in the Hopkins Children's press release of October 29, 2009 or within the American Journal of Obstetric's & Gynecology feature.
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