The important of a flu vaccine to pregnant women
Are you pregnant or is someone in your family expecting a baby ?Now is the time to get a flu vaccine. Pregnant women are at increased risk of severe infection or even death from influenza. Getting a flu vaccine is your best chance of preventing a flu infection.
When a pregnant woman gets a flu shot , she does two things.
- she protects herself from flu infection
- she starts to create antibiotics against flu that she passes on to the baby . In this case, after the baby is born and too young to get the flu shot, he still has a greater protection against the virus
Flu shots are safe anytime during pregnancy. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that to protect moms and babies, all pregnant women should get the vaccine and all caregivers around babies should get the shot too.
Content Sources
Flu vaccine safety and pregnancy . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/qa_vacpregnant.htm. Accessed October 4, 2016
Flu basics. Seattle children Hospital. http://www.seattlechildrens.org/safety-wellness/about-the-flu/. Accessed October 4, 2016