Flu and whooping cough jabs-whats your opinion

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Baby due in December so at the time that Flu and whooping cough surface. My mum has had both so I know what they can do. (but she also has an auto immune disorder). I've been told I should get the Jabs after 27 weeks. This wasn't offered when I had my first son however he is up to date with all his vaccinations so I'm not someone who would usually not go through with vaccinations. However I'm a little apprehensive about being pregnant and having these vaccinations. I mean, I only limit myself to one drink of caffeine a day and am careful to follow all guidelines. So it seems slightly like I'm going against the grain by injecting my baby with these vaccines. So I did ask my Facebook mummies if any of them had had it done. No one has (maybe due to different times of the year) but have also heard how awful some of their friends felt after having the vaccine. I understand the benefits, I've researched but the vaccine doesn't seem to be the same as the one in US where all the data on it being safe has come from. My husband is also pretty dubious. So god knows.

Help?

I've had both in both pregnancies and wouldn't hesitate to have them again. The risks of not having the injections far outweigh the risks of having them IMHO.

I'm having my whooping cough vaccine on Friday. I'm 32 weeks and due early Oct.

I think that putting up with feeling a bit rotten for a day or so after the jab is a small price to pay if it protects my baby from whooping cough in the first weeks and months of its life.

If you're following all the guidelines, why not follow the guideline to have the vaccine?

My understanding is that they aren't allowed to do clinical trials on pregnant women here, hence its not been tested, but that doesn't automatically mean its unsafe. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Just my opinion though and you need to make your own decision.

The vaccine isn't live so as far as I understand (and was told by the nurse) you shouldn't feel any side effects - apart from perhaps a sore arm! I do think people look for symptoms sometimes and convince themselves of the reason, e.g. the vaccine, but perhaps I am just cynical . As others said I didn't hesitate to get it done, at my 31 week appointment.

i would never ever ever have it done.at worst dangerous and at best ineffective.

If your genuinley curious do your own research into both sides then make your own decision.

What is your evidence that at best it is ineffective?

Had both, no side effects for me.

Whooping cough is horrible and dangerous for small babies.

Why would you not have it?

I was offered the flu jab in my last pregnancy and decided not to have it. I have been offered whooping cough this time and again, decided not to have it. I'm certainly in the minority, although definitely not the only one. Women who decline tend not to advertise the fact.

My general reservation is that it is impossible to carry out safety trials on pregnant women, so the jabs are by necessity trialled by introducing them based on assumptions (rather than evidence) about safety. The flu jab in pregnancy is relatively new (only a few years old I think), and whooping cough very new (only in the last year as they didn't offer it in my last pregnancy).

It's a totally personal choice and I'd advise you to look in what data is available about outcomes and the number of women who have had the jabs, and make your own decision without succumbing to the hysteria that can exist around both pro and anti-vaccination. It can be useful to look at the numbers of actual cases of whooping cough infection in small babies (pre their eight week vaccine) and the actual incidence of poor outcomes due to maternal flu infection.

The usual argument for having the jab is 'why would you take the risk of not having it?', 'they wouldn't do it if there was a danger'. These arguments seem to simplistic to me as there's no longitudinal evidence about safety of use in pregnancy one way or the other, so it seems completely logical to me to think very carefully about it.

Sorry to turn this post into advice for myself, but I'm only 8 weeks and am also curious about the vaccines. The whopping cough; is that to protect the baby? And is the flu for both mum and baby? I'm due in march so am very cautious with what I could catch over the dreaded winter months, and I live in a very cold house. Also, when I get a cold I get it bad, so no doubt whilst pregnant it would make me feel even more rotten

The whooping cough jab has only recently been recommended because of an immunisation gap similar to the recent measles scare, causing the incidence of whooping cough to rise. It's not a live vaccine and is of course entirely personal choice as to whether to have it, but the statistics as to infant mortality/brain damage and whooping cough are worth looking at.

Regarding the 'flu vaccine, again you need to do your research to make an informed decision, but I do know that pregnant women who catch 'flu often become dangerously ill with it.

ringaringarosy, without intending to lock horns, I don't think that your comment that vaccinations are "at worst dangerous and at best ineffective" is helpful - it's provocative and inaccurate. There are arguments for and against both options and it's important that women are given the full facts in order to make an informed choice.

Thank you all for your replies. After I posted I did a bit more research and found some people got quite sick after having the jabs -Great!!!

. I'm really trying to make the best informed decision I can, having found all the facts and opinions I can. Don't get me wrong I would not be hesitating if baby was born. I think vaccines are important but it just raised a few concerns in me when its not been tested on pregnant women in the UK (the vaccine apparently slightly different to the US one having been tested). My sister (a non pregnant and non hormonal person lol) gave her opinion. it was "Beware what you look up on the internet and that she would probably get it done". But I will still have a bit more of a think.

Also would you have both jabs done together or separately. If separately how much space between them?

Thank you again.

I've just had my WC. Onlsodded effect is a sore arm. If it gives some protection to stop bump catching a nasty disease when it's very small then I wanted it particularly as I live in an area with a high level of cases. I haven't had the flu jab as I think that we are still a bit early for this years jab (changes every year due to different strains) I'm asthmatic so can have flu jab anyway but never had it as always too busy to get to surgery. Will have it this year as I had flu once. It was dreadful. Feeling that I'll on top of being very pregnant or with a new baby isn't something that I want aside from any protection it may or may not give the baby

The nurse gave me quite a lot of info and made me read before the injection. If you're worried why not pop down to the doctor an get the booklets?

I'm also really having doubts about it. As another poster has said there is so little evidence backing up the safety aspect of it because it hasn't even been around a year, and the same goes for the short and long terms on the baby themselves. I could never forgive myself if this turned into another thalidomide disaster and I'd blindly agreed to it. I'm totally organic and natural so really think what goes into my body. I will give my baby the injections it needs when it's born, but giving it something when it's not even out yet and has hardly any guarantees for her safety just doesn't seem safe. If anything went wrong she couldn't be operated on. I just don't know, I wish it wasn't such a recent introduction so the effects on the baby were better known. It does seem a bit odd too that they think babies are too small to have anything in them before 8 weeks, and yet they want to do it in the womb now.

I've asked my consultant and midwife about it and while they both say to have it, they say did admit that there are no guarantees to the short or long term safety of the baby.

I was wondering if I could have it soon after I've given birth, then breastfeed, and would it be effective?

I had them both at the same time. My lovely perfect six month old is currently asleep on my knee. Whooping cough is horrific for babies. Please have it.

I've had them both - for me, the potential damage done by flu and whooping cough outweighed any risks of having the jabs.

I really can't understand why you would not have it. The flu has and does kill pregnant women and very young babies. What evidence has anyone got that the jab has done anything like that. The same goes for whooping cough, You will be covered as you would have been vaccinated for this before, but your baby hasn't and babies in this country DIED last year from this. What babies have been seriously adversely affected by the vaccine? Health professionals are advising this - not for the good of their health, but for you and your babies best interest. You'll be giving your baby the whooping cough jab when they are a few months old anyway! And as for lack of evidence - the last couple of years hundreds of thousands of pregnant women have had the jab and been fine. A few mums may have felt slightly under the weather after - but again there is no way of proving this was the vaccine as its just as likely they picked up something from the doctors waiting room!!! Plus I would rather be slightly under the weather than have my baby unable to breathe from whooping cough.

Excuse rant but late pregnancy does this to me

My son had whooping cough and it was the scariest thing I have ever had to cope with if I could have had the vaccine that protected him in the first few months I would have!

There are no "guarantees" with any vaccine, however, getting whooping cough is as the posters above said, pretty horrific and unimmunised babies can die.

Before the vaccine, 10-20,000 a year ysed to die in the US alone.

Really pleased to see your response LePamplemousseMousse I feel the same about the WC vaccine as it absolutely hasn't been tested on pregnant women, so they can't prove it works, only theorise.

Interesting to hear they are advising the flu jab later on to you OP, I had it at 5 weeks in my last pregnancy that I later found was the week my baby stopped developing as I went on to have a missed miscarriage, I wouldn't have it again at any time before about 12 weeks, more from a stress perspective than any real belief that it was the cause as to be fair there are a million other reasons that things can go wrong at that stage.

lucybrad rant away, I see it as a very divisive topic! I'm only talking about the whooping cough jab. I couldn't care less how it makes me feel, it's just about how it will effect my baby. The effect of Repevax on embryo-foetal development has not been assessed. They have only been giving this exact vaccine cocktail since late last year, it has not been around for long enough to know how having it will effect your baby as it grows up.

I'm not saying I'm definitely not going to have it, but just because someone like a doctor has told me to take something, doesn't mean I should without learning as much as I can about it.

We will never have total clear proof that vaccines are safe for use in pregnancy, because they can't test on pregnant women. An element of this is always going to be unclear.

That aside, I decided I'd rather have the vaccine than risk my baby getting ill before their own jabs at 8 weeks. I had a dead arm for a couple of days, but not enough to stop me sleeping on that side.

I'm due in October but will be having my flu jab if I can get in early in the season. I can't imagine getting flu while pregnant and not being able to take any medication or either of us getting it in the early months.

I agree with the pp that ringaringarosy's post was inflammatory and unhelpful. I'd like to see some evidence of those claims.

Good luck with your pregnancy OP.

The risk of complications from vaccinations are so small. To me it's a bit like walking on the main road to prevent getting run over by a wheelchair on the pavement.

I had a winter pregnancy last time (third trimester in the winter I mean) and was offered the swine flu (it was all the rage in 2009 if you remember) and normal flu vaccine. I decided not to have either. We caught neither.

This time, as it's summer, there's been no mention of flu vaccines but I was offered whooping cough. Again, I divided against it.

It's a very personal decision. I don't subscribe to the view that if it's available you should have it.

I turned swine flu down because it was a very new vaccine and I didn't want to be a guinea pig.

I turned whooping cough down for no particular reason, just didn't feel concerned enough about it to have it. I feel confident it's safe and useful though.

If you look at the minutes from the meeting where the JCVI decided to go ahead with the vaccination programme for WC it might help you with the decision. One point that was raised was that it may cause babies' own vaccinations to be less effective (called "blunting" I believe). so perhaps that's where the idea of it being "ineffective" has come from. I also believe there is a question on whether the antibodies do indeed cross the placenta and how quickly they fade after birth. It's under "effectiveness" on the notes. Annoyingly, I'm struggling to paste the link on my phone ATM. But if you google "JVCI whooping cough minutes" it's pretty easy to find

Also the HPA website publishes weekly reports on cases of various illnesses region by region on their website so you could look to see how prevalent it is in your area.

Instead of spending time looking for vague reasons not to have it - google real stories of real people and babies that have died of flu or whooping cough during pregnancy or as tiny babies. I know of a young mum that died of swine flu shortly after her babies birth (they managed to deliver the baby ). Just because most people don't get flu or whooping cough doesn't mean that some people wont. Also bear in mind we have no idea how virulent this years flu will turn out to be.

Due next week and have had both.

Having had flu a few years back when not PG and getting very sick, I'd never not have that. Similarly I've seen a friend have a beautiful healthy baby boy only to then spend a long time in hospital after getting WC at 2 weeks old.

No brainer.