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Flu vaccine to be encouraged for women in late pregnancy

Pregnant women are likely to be offered flu vaccination in the later stages of pregnancy because of the strain that the illness could put on their heart and lungs in childbirth. The move is likely to cause concern among some pregnant women who are already anxious about advice that is offered on what foods and medications are safe.

Flu vaccination in pregnancy is already offered in the US but take-up has been low. In the UK, confidence in vaccines has also been damaged by the controversy over the alleged links between MMR vaccination and autism - now discredited in the eyes of most scientists.

According to the government's expert advisory group on vaccinations, flu could pose a risk for women in labour and also for their unborn child. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisations (JCVI) agreed in June "that pregnant women were at an increased risk of morbidity and mortality from seasonal influenza". It recommended that women in the second and third stages of pregnancy should be routinely offered vaccination along with other groups for whom flu is high-risk, such as the elderly and those with heart conditions.

The JCVI's recommendations are generally accepted by the government, but it has yet to send its advice to the Department of Health. "No final decision will be made until ministers have considered the recommendations," said a spokesman.

There is a clear indication in the JCVI minutes that the committee recognised it could be an uphill battle to convince some women of the benefits of flu vaccination in pregnancy. Women would be offered an inactivated form of flu vaccine, which would prompt the build-up of their body's defences against the virus but could not give them flu.

Medical experts worry about the strain that can be placed on women's hearts and lungs by flu in addition to the effort of giving birth. An extensive study in 1998 found that women who caught flu in the last three months of pregnancy were as likely to end up in hospital with heart and lung problems as those with serious, chronic medical conditions.

The further advanced the pregnancy, the more vulnerable the women appeared to be to flu, according to the study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. At 37 to 42 weeks gestation they were nearly five times more likely to end up in hospital with flu as women who were up to six months pregnant.

There have been only few and small studies of the effect of the flu vaccination on the foetus, but they have shown no ill-effects.


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Flu vaccine to be encouraged for women in late pregnancy

This article appeared on p14 of the National news section of the Guardian on Wednesday 25 October 2006. It was published on guardian.co.uk at 11.24 BST on Wednesday 25 October 2006.

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