HealthTip: Pregnant Women and Flu Protection

When women are pregnant, their immune system changes and their risk of flu complications rises.

That’s true with seasonal flu, and pregnant women are at even greater risk of severe illness with H1N1 flu. That’s why pregnant women were one of the five groups given priority for initial doses of H1N1 flu vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says pregnant women should get flu shots against both seasonal and H1N1 flu. They can get the shots at any time during pregnancy.

“In addition to the protection provided for pregnant women, influenza vaccine given during pregnancy has been shown to prevent influenza in infants less than 6 months of age, who are unable to get the influenza vaccination themselves.“