Pregnancy and the Swine Flu Vaccine

Posted Jul 29, 2009 by Donna Koehn

Updated Jul 29, 2009 at 03:58 PM

If you are pregnant, the Centers for Disease Control recommends you be one of the first to get the swine flu vaccine.

The Web site for National Public Radio has posted a must-read article based on a report in the British journal The Lancet that describes what happened to pregnant women in the first wave of the swine flu epidemic.

According to the CDC study, of the 45 deaths reported to the agency during the first two months of the swine flu outbreak, six were pregnant women.

Six deaths out of 45 is 13 times higher than the proportion of pregnant women in the total population.

There are 3.4 million pregnant women in the country, and that percentage of deaths could increase this fall and winter, when experts expect a higher rate of swine flu infections.

The pregnant women also became much sicker than others when they contracted the swine flu, with more of them ending up in the hospital. Their babies also may be at greater risk.

Experts are concerned because obstetricians don’t often stock vaccines, and might not know whether to encourage their patients to receive them.

Vaccines are scary for pregnant women, and without much time to analyze the outcomes, I can see why some women would hesitate.

If you are pregnant, you probably should talk to your OB-GYN and read up on the issue to make the best decision for you.