VACCINATION OF PREGNANT WOMEN

MARTA ŁUPIŃSKA
522757
 VACCINES BEFORE PREGNANCY

¡ Pregnant woman should keep an accurate record of their vaccinations

¡ Sharing this information with healthcare professionals will help determine which vaccines is
needed before and during pregnancy

If the patient or her healthcare professionals do not have a current record of her vaccinations, she
can get information from:
¡ parents or other caregivers should have school immunization records
¡ previous healthcare professional or other locations may have the informations about received
vaccinations (e.g., the health department, workplace, or local pharmacies).

Even before becoming pregnant, it is obligatory to make sure the mother is up to date on all her
vaccines. Being up to date will help protect her and her child from serious, preventable diseases.
VACCINES BEFORE PREGNANCY

¡ To reduce the risk of Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS)

it is important to get MMR before they become pregnant, which can cause severe birth
defects and neurodevelopmental problems and even though MMR is a safe vaccine, this is a
live vaccine (it contains a weakened version of the living viruses) so there is a possible risk to
the baby
VACCINES DURING AND AFTER PREGNANCY

¡ During each pregnancy mother should get a whooping cough vaccine (Tdap) and a flu shot
¡ These vaccines are inactivated vaccines-> they are made by inactivating or killing the germ
during the process of making the vaccine, that is why they are safe for a pregnant woman and
her baby
WHY WHOOPING CAUGH VACCINE IS SO IMPORTANT FOR
FUTURE MUMS?

¡ Whooping cough (pertussis) can be life-threatening for a newborn

¡ About 7 in 10 deaths from whooping cough are among babies younger than 2 months old - babies
at this age are too young to be protected by their own vaccination
The younger the baby is when they gets whooping cough, the more likely they will need to be treated
in a hospital.
¡ sometimes it's hard to diagnose if the baby has the whooping cough disease because many babies
with this disease don’t cough at all - nstead, it can cause them to stop breathing
¡ Receiving the pertussis vaccine during pregnancy leads to the production of protective antibodies
in her body, and then some of these are passed on to the baby before birth. These antibodies will
provide the baby some short-term, early protection against whooping cough.
¡ CDC recommends getting a whooping cough shot during the 27th through 36th week of each
pregnancy, preferably during the early part of earlier part of this time period.
WHY GETTING A FLU SHOT DURING PREGNANCY IS BENEFICIAL?

¡ Pregnant women are more likely to have severe illness from flu, possibly due to changes in
lung, immune and heart functions during pregnancy
¡ They should get a flu shot during pregnancy during
flu season—it’s the best way to protect against the flu and protect the baby for several months
after birth from flu-related complications. Future mums should get a flu shot anytime during
each pregnancy.
¡ CDC recommends getting a flu vaccine by the end of October despite flu seasons varying in
their timing from season to season. This timing helps protect a pregnant woman before flu
activity begins to increase.
OTHER VACCINES

¡ Hepatitis B - a baby whose mother has hepatitis B is at highest risk for becoming infected with
hepatitis B during delivery. Pregnant women should talk to their healthcare
professional about getting tested for hepatitis B and whether or not they should get
vaccinated
¡ Hepatitis A - for women who have a history of chronic liver disease, doctors may recommend
the hepatitis A vaccine
¡ Vaccines for travel - pregnant women planning international travel should talk to their doctor
at least 4 to 6 weeks before their trip to discuss any special precautions or necessary vaccines
¡ if a pregnant woman is traveling to a country where she may be exposed to meningococcal
disease or she works in a lab, her doctor l may recommend meningococcal vaccination
CONTRAINDICATIONS

¡ Some vaccines, such as the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, should be given a
month or more before pregnancy if a pregnant woman didn’t get the vaccine as a child –
being pregnant is a contraindication for live vaccines

¡ Live virus vaccines, such as the MMR and chickenpox shots, should not be given to
pregnant women - it should be given to women before or after pregnancy, if indicated!
VACCINES AFTER CHILDBIRTH

¡ Vaccination after birth can help protect mothers from getting sick, and they can also pass on
some of the antibodies to their babies through breast milk if they are able to
breastfeed. Vaccination after pregnancy is especially important if moms did not receive
certain vaccines before or during pregnancy.
¡ However, moms will not get protective antibodies immediately if they wait to get vaccinated
until after birth it takes about 2 weeks after getting vaccinated for the body to develope
antibodies
COVID-19 VACCINES WHILE PREGNANT

¡ COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for all people 12 years and older, including people who are
pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or might become pregnant in the future
¡ Pregnant and recently pregnant people are more likely to get severely ill with COVID-19 compared with non-
pregnant people
¡ Evidence about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy has been growing -these
data suggest that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any known or potential risks of
vaccination during pregnancy
SOURCES

¡ https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pregnancy/vacc-before.html
¡ https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pregnancy/vacc-during-after.html#after
¡ https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pregnancy/vacc-safety.html