Flu Shot During Pregnancy Protects Infants From Flu

Influenza vaccination among pregnant and postpartum women has a protective effect on their infants, according to a recent study.

Infants younger than 6 months have a high risk for severe influenza-related complications. However, they are too young to receive the influenza vaccine.
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To explore how maternal influenza vaccination affects infants’ risk of influenza, the researchers assessed 3441 infants born prior to the 2013-2014 influenza season. Mothers were administered a questionnaire regarding their vaccination status for the 2013-2014 influenza season, as well as a follow-up survey after the 2013-2014 influenza season regarding influenza diagnosis and hospitalization among infants.

Results of the study showed that influenza had been diagnosed in 71 (2%) infants, of whom 13 (0.4%) had been hospitalized for influenza. The researchers observed that maternal influenza vaccination, especially prenatal vaccination, was associated with a decreased risk of influenza among infants.

Vaccine effectiveness was 61% for prenatal vaccination vs 53% for postpartum vaccination. However, vaccine effectiveness (73%) was ultimately not statistically significant for influenza-related hospitalizations due to the limited number of infants who were hospitalized with influenza.

“The present findings indicated that pregnant women and postpartum women should receive influenza vaccination in order to protect their infants,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Ohfuji S, Deguchi M, Tachibana D, et al. Protective effect of maternal influenza vaccination on influenza in their infants: a prospective cohort study [Published online December 5, 2017]. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jix629.