Vaccinations In Pregnancy

Vaccinations In Pregnancy

During your pregnancy, you will be offered certain vaccinations that can help protect both you and your baby. Vaccines can prevent diseases or reduce the severity of illnesses. The antibodies that you develop while pregnant are passed to your unborn baby, providing them with protection during their first few months of life.

During pregnancy, your immune system is weakened to protect the pregnancy. This can mean you’re less able to fight off infections such as flu. Pregnant women are also more likely to get complications from catching a virus.

The vaccines offered during your pregnancy are the best way to protect yourself and your baby from serious illness.

In general, the vaccines offered during pregnancy contain inactivated viruses (killed viruses), which can be given during pregnancy. Vaccines that contain live viruses aren’t recommended during pregnancy.

Vaccines that are safe and recommended during pregnancy

  • Flu shot – This also is called the influenza vaccine. It’s recommended for people who are pregnant during flu season. The flu shot is made from a killed virus, so it’s safe for both you and your baby. Do not get the influenza nasal spray vaccine. It is made from a live virus.
  • Tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis vaccine – This also is called Tdap. The Tdap vaccine is recommended during each pregnancy, regardless of your last vaccination. Getting vaccinated between 27 and 36 weeks helps protect your newborn from whooping cough (pertussis).
  • COVID-19 vaccine – An updated COVID-19 vaccine is recommended and safe during pregnancy, even if you’ve been vaccinated before. Research shows no serious risks to pregnant individuals or their babies. If you become pregnant after your first dose of a two-dose vaccine, it’s important to get the second shot. Pregnant individuals should also receive a booster when eligible. Encouraging those you live with to get vaccinated can help prevent the spread of disease.
  • Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine – RSV is another virus that spreads easily and can be dangerous for babies. The RSV vaccine Abrysvo is recommended if you’re 32 to 36 weeks pregnant during the fall and winter. That’s because the virus spreads mainly during this time.

Your healthcare provider may recommend additional vaccines during pregnancy if you are at higher risk for certain infections. For example, some pregnant individuals may need the hepatitis B vaccine.

Vaccinations that are unsafe during pregnancy

Your healthcare professional likely will recommend that you not get vaccines that contain live viruses during pregnancy. Those types of vaccines might pose a risk to a developing baby.

Vaccines that aren’t recommended during pregnancy include:

  • Chickenpox vaccine, also called varicella vaccine.
  • Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
  • Shingles (Shingrix) Although this vaccine doesn’t contain the live virus, it’s usually recommended that pregnant people delay vaccination.

Please continue to read more about the various vaccinations recommended during pregnancy.

Whooping cough is a serious infection that causes long bouts of coughing and choking, making it hard to breathe. The “whoop” is caused by gasping for breath after each bout of coughing, though babies do not always make this noise. It spreads very easily and can sometimes cause serious problems, which is why it’s important for babies and children to get vaccinated against it.

The first signs of whooping cough are similar to a cold, such as a runny nose and sore throat. After about a week, you or your child:

  • will get coughing bouts that last for a few minutes and are worse at night.
  • may make a “whoop” sound – a gasp for breath between coughs (young babies and some adults may not “whoop”)
  • may have difficulty breathing after a coughing bout and may turn blue or grey (young infants)
  • may bring up a thick mucus, which can make you vomit.
  • may become very red in the face (more common in adults)

The cough may last for several weeks or months.

Babies under 6 months old with whooping cough have an increased chance of having problems such as:

  • dehydration
  • breathing difficulties
  • pneumonia
  • seizures (fits)

Whooping cough can be serious for babies and may lead to complications resulting in hospitalisation and even death. Young babies with whooping cough are often very unwell and at highest risk of severe complications, such as pneumonia and permanent brain damage.

 In 2012, the UK reported the largest increase in pertussis activity in over 2 decades. In 2012, a total of 14 infant deaths were reported in England and Wales. In response to the national outbreak, a temporary immunisation programme for pregnant women was introduced.

The aim of the programme was to boost pertussis antibodies in the vaccinated woman in pregnancy, so that pertussis specific antibodies would be passed from the mother to her baby. This was to provide the infant with protection from birth until they attended for their own routine vaccines at 8 weeks of age. The programme commenced on 1 October 2012.

Since the introduction of pertussis vaccination in pregnancy, from 2013 to the end of April 2024, there have been 29 deaths in babies with confirmed pertussis who were all too young to be fully protected by infant vaccination. Sadly, this includes 8 deaths in infants who had contracted pertussis between January and April 2024. Of the 29 infants that died, 23 had mothers who were not vaccinated in pregnancy. Maternal vaccination is very effective against pertussis disease and hospitalisation.

In light of the success of the vaccination programme in saving infant lives and against the continued high levels of pertussis activity in age groups older than one year, in June 2019 the JCVI advised that it should continue as a routine programme.

If you are pregnant, you can help protect your baby by getting the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine. Vaccination during pregnancy boosts your antibodies which are then passed to your baby to help protect them from the day they are born until they are old enough to be vaccinated at 8 weeks old. It is recommended in every pregnancy to boost the antibodies you pass on to your baby.

You will normally receive your whooping cough vaccine around the time of your mid-pregnancy scan (usually 20 weeks) but you can receive it from 16 weeks. If you have reached 20 weeks of pregnancy and have not yet been offered the whooping cough vaccine, please ask your midwife or GP practice.

To give your baby the best protection, you should try and get the vaccine before 32 weeks but if you have missed out you can still have it later. You can even have it after you give birth, to reduce your risk of spreading whooping cough to your baby.

You can access a whooping cough vaccine from your GP practice and through some antenatal clinics and you may be offered the vaccination at a routine antenatal appointment. For further advice on getting your whooping cough vaccination in your area, speak with your GP practice or midwife.

You can also check your child is up to date with their childhood vaccinations, including whooping cough, and if they have missed any they can catch up at their GP practice at any time. 

Vaccination during pregnancy boosts your antibodies which are then passed to your baby to help protect them from the day they are born.

Pertussis-containing vaccine (whooping cough vaccine) has been used routinely in pregnant women in the UK since October 2012. There is no evidence to suggest that the whooping cough vaccine is unsafe for you, or your unborn baby and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is continuously monitoring its safety.

The MHRA’s study of around 20,000 vaccinated women published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found no evidence of risks to pregnancy or babies.

The whooping cough vaccine is not a live vaccine so it can’t cause whooping cough in you or your baby if you have the vaccine. It’s safer for you to have the vaccine than to risk your newborn baby catching whooping cough.

Yes. Whenever you have the whooping cough vaccine, your baby will still need to be vaccinated according to the normal NHS vaccination schedule when they reach 8 weeks old. Babies are protected against whooping cough by the 6-in-1 vaccine.

Yes, because any protection you may have had through either having whooping cough or being vaccinated when you were young is likely to have worn off and will not provide sufficient protection for your baby.

Yes, you need to have the whooping cough vaccine in every pregnancy to boost the antibody you pass on to your baby.

What are the side effects of the whooping cough vaccine?

After having the whooping cough vaccine, you may have some mild side effects such as swelling, redness or tenderness where the vaccine is injected in your upper arm. This is normal after having a vaccine and it should only last a few days.

Other side effects can include a high temperature, irritation at the injection site, nausea and loss of appetite, tiredness and headache. Serious side effects are extremely rare.

For more information about the Whooping Cough Vaccine in pregnancy please take a look at the leaflet and websites below:

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of respiratory illness in the UK but is relatively unknown to the public. It causes hundreds of thousands of infections across the UK each winter in the young and the old, resulting in illness (including pneumonia), admissions and deaths.

As of 1 September 2024, two new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programmes were introduced.

  • A programme to protect infants by vaccinating pregnant women (from 28 weeks)
  • A programme for older adults aged 75 to 79 years old

The aim of the programme is to reduce the incidence and severity of RSV disease, and hospitalisation as a result of RSV disease, in babies and eligible older adults. This UK-wide vaccination programmes will save lives and significantly reduce the burden on the NHS during the challenging winter months.

You can read more HERE on the new vaccination programme in the press release from the Department of Health and Social Care published on 17 July 2024.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an enveloped RNA virus, in the same family as the human parainfluenza viruses and mumps and measles viruses. RSV is one of the common viruses that cause coughs and colds in winter. RSV is transmitted by large droplets and by secretions from contact with an infected person.

It usually causes a mild self-limiting respiratory infection in adults and children but can be severe in infants and older adults who are at increased risk of acute lower respiratory tract infection. Infants aged less than 6 months frequently develop the most severe disease such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia, which may result in hospitalisation.

Previous infection by RSV may only confer partial immunity to RSV and so individuals may be infected repeatedly with the same or different strains of RSV. Older adults may become vulnerable to RSV due to age-related decline of parts of their immune system (T-cell immunosenescence)

  • RSV is highly communicable, but humans are the only known reservoir.
  • The incubation period (time between infection and appearance of symptoms) varies from 2 to 8 days (usually 3 to 5 days).
  • The virus is spread from respiratory secretions following close contact with an infected person via respiratory droplets or contact with contaminated surfaces or objects .
  • The virus can survive on surfaces or objects for about 4 to 7 hours.

There is no specific treatment suitable for RSV and treatment is therefore aimed at supporting the patient and relieving symptoms. 

Transmission can be reduced through standard infection control practices such as respiratory hygiene, hand washing with soap and warm water, and cleaning of surfaces. 

Ideally, people with colds should avoid close contact with vulnerable older adults, particularly those with weakened immune systems, and co-morbidities (particularly respiratory and cardiac disease). 

Vaccines have now been developed which have been rigorously tested for safety and efficacy; Abrysvo® RSV vaccine (Pfizer Limited) was introduced into the UK schedule from 1st September 2024.

Vaccination through the routine offer of a single dose at age 75 years and the catch-up programme (of 75 to 79 year-olds) will help protect eligible older adults, particularly if given before winter RSV activity. The RSV vaccine protects for at least two years. Studies are ongoing to see how long it lasts.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause lung infections like bronchiolitis, making it difficult for newborn babies to breathe and causing 20,000 infants to need hospital treatment each year.

Pregnant women are eligible for a free respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine to protect their babies from serious lung infections.

You can get your vaccine from 28 weeks of pregnancy. Talk to your GP or maternity service to schedule yours.

Read more HERE.

Influenza – flu – is a highly infectious and potentially serious illness caused by influenza viruses. Each year the make-up of the seasonal flu vaccine is designed to protect against the influenza viruses that the World Health Organization decide are most likely to be circulating in the coming winter.

Regular immunisation (vaccination) is given free of charge to the following at-risk people, to protect them from seasonal flu:

  • people aged 65 or over,
  • people with a serious medical condition
  • if you are pregnant
  • people living in a residential or nursing home
  • the main carers for an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if the carer becomes ill
  • healthcare or social care professionals directly involved in patient care

For more information on flu immunisation, including background information on the vaccine and how you can get the jab, see the links below.