Given that both pregnant women and babies are at high risk of complications from influenza infection, the vaccination of future mothers against this disease is recommended by many specialists to prevent problems. However, until 6 months of age the application of the vaccine is not authorized for babies, who would be more exposed to the infection.
That is why it is being investigated the effectiveness of flu vaccination during pregnancy could have on the baby, and a new study has exposed its conclusions.
Although a previous study claimed that the vaccine applied to the mother did not significantly favor cases of respiratory disease in infants, this new research seems to point in the opposite direction.
The article has been published by The New England Journal of Medicine with the title "Effectiveness of Maternal Influenza Immunization in Mothers and Infants" ("Effectiveness of maternal immunization against influenza in mothers and children").
Conclusions indicate that flu vaccines given to pregnant women a month or more before giving birth they would avoid most cases of the flu that occur during the first 6 months of life of babies.
The tests were conducted by monitoring the cases of 340 pregnant women in Bangladesh who showed that vaccines reduced the risk of flu by 63% and that the general danger of respiratory disease decreased by 29%. Pregnant women received immunizations during the third trimester.
In any case, and waiting for further investigations, perhaps with a broader sociological sample and more conclusive results, we remind you that the flu vaccine is one of those that many experts recommend to protect the mother if she is in the second or third trimester of pregnancy in season of greatest risk of infection.
