Should I have the swine flu jab before I get pregnant?

[CuppaTeaJanice]

DP and I are planning on trying for a second baby in the next few months. Given that swine flu might become more prevalent as the weather gets colder, and I would be hesitant in having an injection while pregnant, especially in the first trimester, would it be a good idea to have the injection now?

I know the risks are small, but I'm mildly asthmatic too and would prefer not to have a respiratory disease while pregnant. Would I be allowed to have the jab though? And have any problems occurred, except sore arms etc.? I'm assuming that as the majority of health professionals have had it, any problems would have been publicised.

Any advice?

Anybody?

I would in light of your mild asthma as pregnancy puts pressure on your body. I would also have the normal flu and pneumonia jab if poss.

Do you have all the jabs at the same time?

Sounds like a lot of needles!!

I'm not sure - I have the normal flu jab every year because of my asthma - the pneumonia one is a once off but I think worth it because pneumonia could be nasty with asthma.

The swine flu is a one off too.

It sounds a lot but tbh you hardly feel them and for me it's a case of knowing that I'm doing all I can to stop myself getting ill and making my asthma an issue. Mine is very mild too but I know that if I did get flu/swine flu/pneumonia that it could make it more serious.

There is some stories of people being ill after, but I don't know anyone that has been and I know loads of people that have had it. I do however know people that have been seriously ill with all three.

There will be a new vaccine in the UK for the autumn; to immunise against swine flu (H1N1), seasonal influenza A (H3N2), and influenza B. From what I've seen, none of the vaccines will contain thiomersal.

Recommendations are for all people at risk of severe influenza, including pregnant women not in a high risk group who didn't get vaccinated against swine flu before.

So you could have the current 'swine flu only' vaccine now, or wait until later (maybe September) when you'll get immunised against all three flu types.

Slightly tangental but Australian study on triple vac inc Swine flu in healthy children under 5 reported in recent BMJ showed high rate adverse effects, sorry can't put my finger on exact details or ref at moment but there definitely seem to be some issues. I'm generally pro vaccinations so not scare mongering.

I've spoken to the surgery and they say they're no longer recommending SF jab for pregnant people, and they don't have any vaccines left anyway.

So I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens in the autumn. Don't really want to wait that long before TTC though!

Thanks for the info about the new jab. To be honest, a couple of years ago I'd have had it without question. However I've read too many scary stories about bad reactions to vaccines (MMR, BCG, tetanus) that I'm now a bit wary of them.

Does anybody here work for the NHS and know what their current advice is about SF vaccines/pregnancy? It all looked a few months out of date on their website.

The advice I gave above is from a Chief Medical Officer's recent letter of 28th May to Trusts (including Chairs of PCTs). Your GP should be able to obtain the monovalent swine flu vaccine if you want it. The Dept of Health are definitely still recommending it for pregnant women.

There are some reports of higher frequency of adverse reactions to the CSL trivalent vaccine in Western Australia, but as far as I'm aware there is nothing yet concluded from the investigations. BTW the CSL vaccine is not one of those being provided in the UK for this coming winter season.

Update: yes ohmeohmy is right: all flu vaccinations in healthy children