Flu jab in pregnancy

[FirstTimeMum2Be]

Hello everyone. I'm 21 weeks pregnant and due 2nd August. My local midwife at the GP surgery says that I need to have a flue jab and whooping cough vaccine while still pregnant, but I am unsure what to do as I am being told by quite a lot of people that it sounds like a bad idea. Being a first time mum I need some advice.

I got whooping cough vaccine as that's for the baby but skipped the flu jab as Iv never had the flu I didn't feel the need to get it.

They recommend them for good reason. I’m 12 weeks and had a flu jab yesterday at my local boots. I meant to go 6 weeks ago when my midwife recommended it at my booking in appointment. My gp surgery had ran out and I completely forgot to go and check at chemist until this week. The Pharmacist was unsure if it was worth while now so got me to check with midwife. Midwife said absolutely get it as they still have women coming in with flu. If I were you I’d get it and quickly as most places will stop doing it at the end of March. Whooping cough is so important to as people have said babies can die. I look at it like this yeah there is a risk with vaccines but in reality it’s a tiny risk compared to risk of not having them

Iv never had the flu I didn't feel the need to get it

You're significantly more likely to get the flu in pregnancy because of your depressed immune system, and if you do get it, it'll be worse. As PP say flu season is drawing to a close, fortunately, but "I've never had the flu before" is not a good reason to skip the jab.

@FirstTimeMum2Be I'm currently pregnant with my first and due in July.
I've had both vaccines. As you have a lower immune system in pregnancy, to stop your body rejecting the baby.
I've had a number of colds and sore throats since I've been pregnant. The vaccines will protect me and baby from getting potentially very ill

Hi. I'm a first time mum and had my baby in January. I had both vaccines and I was absolutely fine. When my husband caught the flu and his DS thankfully I didn't so I would definitely advise going for it.

Non-vaxers have actually increased risk. By not vaccinating, strains of disease have been enable to re-infect. New York City children are currently not allowed out in public if they have not been vaccinated against measles because there is a new endemic. All research about the vaccine link to developmental disorders has been rubbished by ACTUAL scientists and more and more children and babies are dying from old-fashioned disease because of miseducated and ill-knowledge in parents. Too sad. Please vaccinate. If you’re willing to put your own baby at risk, I know you’re capable of harming mine.

@Sessy19, when I had the blood test before the 3 vaccinations my titres came back as 1/8 and 1/16; 3 months after the 3rd vaccination they came back as 1/16 and 1/32 so, whatever immunity I had had 6 months earlier, had actually halved. The consultant immunologist who oversaw the process said that I was obviously someone who was not susceptible to producing immunity via the vaccination and to be careful around suspected or confirmed WC as I would be at risk of contracting it - never did thankfully - and I’ve also been told that, as I don’t get an immune response to the vaccination, I won’t pass any benefit to the babies. My midwife accepted this when we spoke.

@rememberallball it’s cases like yours that highlight why herd immunity is so important. You can’t pass on your immunity through no fault of your own so as a society we need to protect the most vulnerable.

I do wonder if the anti-Vad movement will create the next epidemic that wipes out a significant number of people.

I'm gutted as my midwife has said that I'm unlikely to be able to get the flu jab as it's the end of the season, but I had it with dd last time. I'll be booking my whopping cough vaccine for after my 20 week scan. Both midwives advised this as you should wait until 16 weeks anyway and they have some women blaming the jab if their scan shows anomalies (even though it won't be the jab medical professionals obviously don't want people using it as an excuse and therfore lowering take up of the offer)
Like others have said, vaccines only work their best if a certain % of a population has it. In the case of measles for example, I think it it something like 95% and that's why there is such a massive increase in cases, because only 85% of people are taking the vaccine.
They are proven to be effective and there is no scientific evidence to the contrary that can be verified as all "evidence" previously presented has been proven wrong.

My husband never used to get the flu jab and has had 3 cases of flu. I have always had it and had none.

This time I had the flu vaccine and whooping cough vaccine at the same time in the same arm. I don’t advise doing that! I’ll take arm soreness over my child dying anyday though....

I haven’t had the flu jab yet - first one got cancelled - then last week (30 weeks) ended up in hospital with flu. Both mine and my baby’s health were at risk. I would 100% get both.

Definitely get both.

I had a nasty case of flu at the beginning of April a few years ago. The main flu season is nearly over, but you never know.

Your immune system is very depressed in pregnancy, they recommend these jabs for good reason.

First time pregnant here, 24 weeks. I had the flu jab around 12 weeks and I’m going to have whooping cough next week.

My mum didn’t vaccinate me at all and I’m trying to make up for that now because I believe vaccinations are good and I want to protect my baby as much as possible.

My mum didn’t give me MMR which puts me and baby at risk now. I can’t get it until after the pregnancy, so I wish I’d known earlier that I didn’t have it.

I didn't think flu jab was necessary, I've never had flu, it won't happen to me.

I'm the one found out the hard way the flu is very serious in pregnancy. My family taken into the relatives room to be told they might need to deliver baby to give me the best chance of surviving.

With my second pregnancy it was the first thing my mum asked when I announced my pregnancy in the middle of summer.

I never had flu up until my early twenties and then seemed to get it every 1-2 years so I always planned on getting it as it was just getting ridiculous. I got mine done in December just before I hit 12 weeks and I've barely had a sniffle since - that's despite various coughs, colds and flu going round the office. Had whooping cough at 22 weeks too as the immunity is passed onto baby as others have said. I've had no ill-effects from either apart from a few days of a sore arm after each.

Huh? Why's it a bad idea! It will be very dangerous to get either flu or whooping cough in pregnancy!

I had both as the risks to the baby were reduced by having the jabs. Flu jab might be hard to come by at this time of year though. But absolutely definitely whooping cough. You want the risk of your newborn contracting that to be as low as possible