To get the flu vaccine and whooping cough or not?

[Rose58]

Did anyone opt out of these? I've never had flu before and don't like the thought of putting medicine in my body when I am pregnant if not completely necessary.

I had them both with no ill effects.

No - they are recommended for good reason so I had both.

It's not necessarily to stop you getting flu (although that's a bonus) it's because you will pass that new found immunity onto the newborn and it'll last for the first few months of his life.

Your tiny baby could get flu and that really would be serious.

Well my DH has just recovered from whooping cough despite being vaccinated as a child. I can't even contemplate what it would be like for a newborn to catch it.

I had both vaccs while PG. they offer them for good reason.

It's about the baby, not you. Why would you even risk it? Get the vaccine!

Yes get them both! The whole point is that they pass on immunity to your unborn child who can't have immunisations until a few weeks old. Also you don't want to catch either illness -pregnant or with a newborn. Tip: ask the nurse to do them both in the same arm, the side you don't sleep on.

I move had both.
You realise the whooping vaccine is for baby's benefit? Whooping cough is horrible and cases have increased in recent years.
It gave me an achey arm for a bit but that's it.

They're fine to take or they wouldn't recommend them. And yes, it's more about passing on the immunity to your vulnerable baby. Whooping cough can be really nasty. Really nasty. For me it was a no brainer. Why would you risk the health of your baby?

Pre NHS, babies died of whooping cough all the time. That's in my gran's lifetime. her first kids were born pre NHS and every illness was terrifying. Be grateful we are offered these brilliant vaccines.

Two weeks after I had my son I was called by the Maternity department to tell me that the midwife who delivered him was now off work with whooping cough.

Given he wasn't going to have his first jabs for six weeks I was bloody glad I'd had the WC jab whilst pregnant.

WC is scary in babies. Why risk it?

I'm one of those people who doesn't just do stuff because the NHS tells me I should. I like to research my options first and make an informed decision.
I was pregnant this time 3 years ago and they wanted me to have flu and WC vaccine.
I did my reading and decided to have both.
We had a lot WC in the area at the time, and in fact a family member at the same stage of pregnancy as me got WC just before she was due to have the vaccine. It was awful for her.

You have to decide for yourself but on balance for me the protection it afforded my baby was worth it.

The below link is to a clip of a baby with whooping cough.

Assuming you won't even want to click it, after all who wants to watch a baby fighting for breath, logic suggests you won't want to see your own child in that situation.

Get vaccinated.

Sorry, I didn't realise that the new app embedded a screenshot of the video. If anyone has a problem with the image shout and I'll have MNHQ take it down.

But I'd prefer to keep it up, I hear so many people wavering about having jabs and I don't think they really understand why it's being offered.

I never understand why people refuse vaccinations just because "they don't like the idea" without doing any detailed research. Baffles me.

Get vaccinated!!!!!!!

Babies are DYING

There are no ill effects. Only benefits.

flinging I think it should be kept up. Whooping cough is horrific x

The flu vaccine last year gave me a headache that lasted a week. Headlines at the time stated that it was only 3 percent effective. I think they have now made that figure a lot higher by playing around with the numbers. I would probably still have the jab next pregnancy but would want to read up on how they have predicted which flu strains will be prevalent in that flu season.

I've had the WC one and have the flu jab booked for next weekend. Apart from a sore arm after the WC one I felt fine!

Sorry for my total ignorance - is WC contagious? Has it increased hence offering the vaccine?

WC is contagious and there have been outbreaks recently.

Yes very contagious and yes sadly making a comeback dirty

And Lorelei a headache for a week really isn't as bad as flu. Flu is not just a bad cold, it's a killer for vulnerable people (babies!).

Last winters flu vaccine was stupidly ineffective. You can google the rates. I had flu jab and still got an awful dose.

If I had never had the flu before I'd seriously consider not getting it. I started with them during my 2nd PG. But I do tend to get the flu every year.

Whooping cough is for the baby. Flu is because flu is more likely to be deadly if you are pregnant.

You are also much more suceptable to illnesses as your immunity is lowered due to pregnancy (so your body doesn't reject the baby). So you may not have had flu before but this is the time you are more likely to catch it AND you would find it harder to recover which would be bad for you and the baby.
Medicine/Vaccinnes etc are about balancing up risk in pregnancy and not assuming that putting stuff in your body is automatically a bad thing.
Without my meds(long term chronic disease) my body is more dangerous for my baby than the dangers of the meds themselves.

Whooping cough vaccine is predominantly for the baby's benefit. The vaccination programme in pregnant women has reduced the risk of pertussis in babies under three months by 91%.

Flu vaccine is primarily for your benefit. Pregnant women are especially vulnerable to the complications of flu.

Both vaccines are inactivated, so not live vaccines. There is no increased risk of pregnancy complications or stillbirth from the vaccines. You may feel unwell for a short while afterwards with a sore arm, headache, low grade fever and malaise.

If you have concerns, speak to your practice nurse or GP.

The risk/benefit ratio is massively, massively in favour of getting both vaccines.

You're lucky to never have had flu - you're more at risk now as your immune system is lowered naturally in pregnancy. Flu is very, very nasty if you're pregnant and significantly raises the risk of foetal death. It's getting up to flu season as well. In the last couple of bad flu seasons we've had, pregnant women and their babies accounted for a disproportionate number of the dead.

Whooping cough tends to come in four year cycles. 2015-2016 is set to be the peak of another one. It's horrible. I mean really horrible. If you get it, you'll feel like absolute shite for several weeks. If your baby gets is, they will be gravely ill. It nearly killed me as a baby. The vaccine is absolutely safe (I say this as a scientist) and I do not understand why people are refusing it. get vaccinated

dirty mug police yes, very contagious, it's also increasing in rate, basically because of people not getting vaccinated :(

Here are the lab confirmed cases (which will of course be a much lower than actual cases as not all are confirmed) by region.www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/435217/Table_2_Laboratory_confirmed_cases_of_Pertussis_infection__England__by_PHE_region_and_age_group_2008_to_2014.pdf

Note two things: one, that cases in 2012 were twenty fold higher than 2008 - we think this is due to the anti vaccination fad. Two, the huge spike in 2012 - that was the last peak. This year is likely to be another.

nICE and the NHS take expert advice from massive amounts of peer reviewed work and meta-reviews before they make recommendations on which vaccines to add to the schedule. All vaccines are continually monitored for many years after release in case any issues come up - and these two vaccines have an excellent safety profile.

Please don't look at it as putting something nasty into your body - you're instructing your body to improve its immune response to two very nasty pathogens.

Of course they are both necessary. They are well tested. Your daft to say you don't want to put it into your body when I'm sure you've eaten crap, slathered your body in creams, used shampoo etc during this pregnancy. Imagine how horrendously guilty you would feel if your baby caught whooping cough. It can kill.