Vaccination of pregnant women against influenza is safe and effective

Pregnant women and women after childbirth have the highest risk of severe forms of influenza with the subsequent development of complications up to a fatal outcome. As the most effective measure of protection against influenza, pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant during the current epidemic season, both domestic and foreign doctors and scientists strongly recommend vaccination with inactivated influenza vaccines. The vaccine retains its effect throughout pregnancy. In addition, post-vaccination antibodies from the mother are transmitted to the child and protect it in the first months of life (just during this period, infants are not yet vaccinated against influenza, since the influenza vaccine is allowed to be used only from the age of 6 months).

Vaccination of pregnant women against influenza has been planned for more than 20 years in a number of countries in Europe and America. Special studies conducted in the United States, which involved more than 2,000 women, showed that the immunization of pregnant women with modern inactivated vaccines does not affect the development of the fetus and does not cause undesirable post-vaccination effects. There is evidence that among infants born to mothers vaccinated against influenza during pregnancy, the incidence of influenza in children of the first 6 months of life is reduced by 50-63% due to the passive transfer of antibodies against influenza from mother to fetus.

In accordance with the National Calendar of Preventive Vaccinations in the Russian Federation, vaccination of pregnant women against influenza is carried out at the expense of the federal budget with inactivated vaccines of domestic production in the second and third trimester of pregnancy*.

In the Lipetsk region, vaccination of this risk group has repeatedly proved its effectiveness and safety: in 2015-2017, more than 6,000 pregnant women were vaccinated against influenza, none of them had post-vaccination complications and cases of influenza (laboratory-confirmed).

 The Office of Rospotrebnadzor in the Lipetsk region strongly recommends that expectant mothers get vaccinated,

to protect yourself and your child from the flu!

*The decision to vaccinate pregnant and breast-feeding women is made by the doctor individually, taking into account the specific health of the pregnant woman. A temporarycontraindication for vaccination is acute infectious diseases and exacerbations of chronic diseases, a permanent contraindication is an allergy to chicken protein. 

Flu –

• acute viral infection,
• easily transmitted from person to person,
• may cause severe illness leading to death,
• the most dangerous in terms of the development of an unfavorable outcome of the disease for such population groups as: children, the elderly, pregnant women, people with chronic diseases, especially with diseases of the bronchopulmonary, cardiovascular, endocrine systems, metabolic disorders and obesity.