Physicians Urge Pregnant Women to Get H1N1 Vaccine, Protect Themselves

Physicians Urge Pregnant Women to Get H1N1 Vaccine, Protect Themselves and Baby from Potential Deadly Threat

Pregnant women in the U.S. infected with the novel H1N1 influenza A virus have died at a rate six times higher than the general population. With flu season upon us, that mortality rate may escalate, so UMDNJ physicians strongly advise expectant mothers to get immunized as soon as the H1N1 vaccine becomes available.

“All pregnant women should be vaccinated,” urges Dr. Gerson Weiss, professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women’s Health at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. “Pregnant women are immunocompromised, in a sense, because they have to have in themselves the ability not to reject the baby. So that’s a window that the virus clearly is taking advantage of.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has named expectant mothers among those at “high risk” for serious complications from the novel H1N1 influenza A virus. Pregnant women who contract the virus may experience serious complications including early labor and severe pneumonia or the illness may prove fatal, the CDC warns.

“This is a very serious potential problem. The CDC anticipates that the death rate can be as high as 10 percent among pregnant women who get H1N1,” Weiss says. “The vaccine will not be 100 percent protective, but it will certainly, for many people, mean the difference between life and death.”

To women worried about getting the H1N1 vaccine out of a more general concern about taking medications while pregnant, Weiss offers this reassurance: “This vaccine is not a drug in that it does not treat, nor does it contain a live virus,” he explains. “It stimulates the immune system to protect the individual so that if the real virus comes on it can fight it. And, if mom is nursing, the H1N1 vaccine may protect her and her infant.” Protection received from the mother is important, says Weiss, because babies under the age of six months are too young to be vaccinated.

According to the CDC, side effects of the H1N1 flu vaccine are expected to be similar to those reported for seasonal flu vaccines - soreness, tenderness, headache, muscle aches, fever, fatigue and nausea – and are expected to be mild.

Conversely, Weiss cautions that a woman unprotected against this virus may face significant risks. “Pregnant women who develop a full-blown case of H1N1 during the first trimester probably will lose the fetus,” he explains. Those who contract the virus after the first trimester risk the body rejecting an ill fetus or, should severe respiratory problems develop, depriving it of oxygen, resulting in pre-term delivery or a more disastrous outcome, Weiss adds.

Expectant mothers who experience flu symptoms or an unexplained fever should immediately contact their physician, Weiss urges. “The doctor may, over the phone, prescribe treatment such as Tamiflu, which is safe, and advise you to stay away from other people or to wear a mask in public,” he says.