Vaccines for Pregnant Women

[mkmoro311]

Why do pregnant women fall into the "High Risk" categorie? Does being pregnant weaken your immune system. If so wouldn't injecting them while it was weakened hinder them even more! I have never understood why pregnant women get flu shots and now the other new flu shot! My friend decided to get them both while conceiving to avoid them during pregnancy is that any better?

[lilylumos]

I don't know the answer to this question, but I can tell you that I have never had the flu in my entire life until I was pregnant.

[MyLilPwny]

Originally Posted by mkmoro311

Does being pregnant weaken your immune system.

My friend who is currently 5 months pregnant asked me this yesterday. I said that pregnancy itself doesn't weaken the immune system and she agreed. They offered her vaccines yesterday and she refused.

[Belle]

When I was first pregnant with my oldest they didn't recommend getting the flu shot for women who were in their first trimester. Once I was out of the first trimester the flu season was over so I didn't get it.

For Dd2 they changed the recommendation to all women who are pregnant no matter how far along they are. They didn't change how flu shots were made during that time and I didn't see anything new that said they'd be safe now when they weren't before. I passed on the flu shot that time. I also got the flu. I got in March when the flu shot was no longer available. I got pregnant in Feb.

Now they're saying that pregnant women are "high risk" and pushing them to the front of the line for flu shots. I'm not pregnant now but if I was I wouldn't get in line for one.

[mkmoro311]

When I was pregnant I felt the healthiest ever, I would think from eating really well and pre-natals! I can't count the 3 mo of mournign sickness as weakening my immune system, but I never had a cold/flu!

[busymama77]

This is why:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American College of Nurse-Midwives, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and many other organizations all strongly recommend both flu shots for pregnant women this year.

Why both? Because if you get any type of flu while you're pregnant, you're more likely to have serious complications, such as pneumonia and preterm labor, that could put you and your baby at risk.

The only two times that I've received the flu shot has been when I've been pregnant and I've never gotten the flu. But when I'm not pregnant and I DON'T get the flu shot, I get sick almost every year! I feel it's important to protect myself and my unborn child. It's my own personal decision.

I've also heard and read that the vaccine also helps prevent your unborn child of flu related illnesses and sicknesses after they are born.

[MountainMamaGC]

If your immune system is too weak to fight off a flu then your immune system is likely too weak to develop antibodies to a vaccine.

[MyLilPwny]

Many people develop the actual flu after getting a flu vaccine, so the CDC's argument doesn't make sense. If the flu vaccine causes the flu, then the pregnant women will be even more at risk. I'm sure we all know people who have gotten the flu vaccine and then developed the flu. 10 years ago when I had just started college, they were giving out flu shots. Apparently, most people got the flu shot, including myself (because this was before I did any research and I just blindly followed the standard protocol). But that was the very last vaccine I've gotten in my entire life. What happened was half of the freshman class, including myself came down with the flu. Even the teachers were commenting that the classes were missing half the students. I was one of the first people to develop the flu, hence I was one of the first people to recover, and then most of the people in my circle of friends came down with the flu and one got it so bad that he ended up in the hospital and was blaming me for it (um ok?). Back then, I never made the connection to the flu vaccine, but now I can see the connection. A couple more examples: my dad had been getting the flu vaccine every year because he didn't believe me or listen to me when i told him not to. He developed the flu every time he got the vaccine. When he finally stopped getting it, he didn't develop the flu those years. My mom always refused the vaccine because she believed me, and she never developed the flu even though she was in the same house as my dad. Another example is I used to work in a small office of about 12 people (I just quit this job a few months ago) and people would come to work sick very often. I worked there for 5 years. I never developed any illness the whole time, and I worked there throughout my entire pregnancy too. People would get the flu vaccine and develop the flu. I particularly remember one year when my boss left work early to go get the flu shot, and then she developed the flu and had to miss a few days of work. Then she started saying that she'll never get the flu shot again because it causes the flu and knows for sure that is what happened to her.

[serenbat]

If you look into past history of flu (such as the 1918) you will see a drastic number of miscarriages (they felt were related to mother's having the flu and having trouble breathing and thus not getting enough oxygen to the fetus). I looked into the local history accounts of the 1918 flu in my area and found dr.'s accounts of almost all of his pregnant patients died. I have a grandmother that was born at the start of the 1918 flu (at home with a dr.) they have a record of her birth being the only one in the area at the time. Perhaps this might have something to due with the recommendations.

[Jenica]

My midwife said that the flu wasn't really more dangerous to pregnant women in the first or second trimesters. She said it is in the third trimester when the baby's size can interfere with lung function that there is a higher risk of complications. I am 4 mos pregnant and I had the flu twice already and the only thing that made it worse for me than had I not been pregnant was that it aggravated my morning sickness. I got over it the first time in 2 days and the second in 3. I've since started taking a vitamin D supplement and haven't gotten sick again.