Travel vaccines and pregnancy

[designergirl]

I'm 12 weeks pregnant and we are planning to visit India in December, at 20 weeks pregnant. It's quite important as my dh's dad had a stroke and we dont know how much longer he has to live. My dh hasnt seen him for 9 years so he wld like to see him b4 he dies. But I went to the nurse and she wldnt give me the vaccines. She advised me not to go.She said she didnt want to take the risk, but gave me the no of a private clinic who may immunise me.
Has anyone else had travel vaccines while pg, and did it affect anything? Or any advice? I wld really like to go.

[AllBellyandBoobs]

Unfortunately I don't think it is recommended to go to a malarial areas whilst pregnant as you are more susceptible and it can prove fatal for you and baby. Perhaps that is why she refused? Also, live vaccines are not recommended for pregnant women so it depends what you were trying to get.

[japhrimel]

It's not recommended to have vaccines or some malarial treatments when pregnant, however I think when I last checked the NHS advice was that if you absolutely have to go, you should get covered as getting a tropical disease is far more harmful to both of you.

Many practices may not want to take the responsibility of vaccinating you though.

It's up to you whether this is an absolute must-do-no-matter-what-the-risk trip. Personally I'd send DH on his own - wouldn't want to risk the baby.

[Sidge]

I'm a practice nurse and very very rarely vaccinate pregnant women for travel.

We're advised not to vaccinate in pregnancy unless travel is essential and unavoidable. However if you are going to travel then inactivated vaccines such as Hepatitis A are considered to be safe to mum and baby.

Some antimalarials can be used in pregnancy but aren't recommended unless travel is unavoidable.

[Trucha10]

Coming a bit late to this one, but I've had to do quite a bit of research on this, as I've travelled a malaria zone in August and will be going to another one in a week's time (will be 15 weeks). I went to a private GP, who has an experienced background in travel illnesses and vaccinations. He checked every book under the sun and eventually advised me that whilst travelling to a malarial zone was not recommended, if I had to go, then the best anti-malarial table to take was Malarone as it had zero risk of birth defects, but like all of them did increase the risk of miscarriage. I then checked this with my nhs gp, who initially said I definitely shouldn't travel, but again after doing some research she said that Malarone was the safest to take. The risk is much greater in the first trimester. Once you're in the second trimester, then you're out of the main danger zone. Obviously, that doesn't mean there ins't a risk, but its considerably less than I originally thought. The only down side is that Malarone made me very nauseas, but that seems part of course of pg! Hope that's of some help.

[onimolap]

Malaria is a much more serious disease in pregnancy, and the complications can be lethal. Nausea from the prophylactic drugs is common, and if it actually makes you sick (as it did me), it's not only miserable but you cannot know if you're getting an effective dose. I cancelled my trip.

If you have been resident in UK, you cannot rely on previous indigenous immunity - it wears off very quickly.

I'm sorry to be so pessimistic, but there is a lot at stake here. Exactly what other jabs do you need to have? There might be someone here who knows about the risks.

[designergirl]

well,thanks for all yourinput. In the end I went to my GP who said he did not think it wld harm the baby and the benefits outweigh the risks. So I had the typhoid and Hep A vaccines (inactivated) last week, ie in the 2nd trimester, and I will let you know what happens.