Flu vaccine

[RL78]

Hi,
I’m 22 weeks and due for my flu vaccine today as my midwife told me I’d need my flu jab and whooping cough jab because I am pregnant.
However I’m starting to understand that a lot of pregnant people I know are turning the vaccine down as they don’t trust it!?
What does everybody think on the flu vaccine in pregnancy??

What don't they 'trust' about it?

I have the flu jab every year normally due to having asthma and I have had it in both this pregnancy and my last pregnancy, no negative effects beyond a mildly sore arm.
Personally I feel that any protection is a bonus, especially at the moment with my immune system not being 100% due to pregnancy.

Lots of threads on here about this recently, and general consensus is that it offers protection to you and your baby that is greatly needed.

I think the flu is very dangerous for pregnancy women so I made sure I had the vaccine in September. I have it every year anyway as I like to reduce my risk of flu but it is much more important now that I'm pregnant.

Hmm do I trust my neighbour/ friend to make my medical decisions or do I trust years of medical research by thousands of specialise individuals??

No I found a lot of threads online about it people who had found different research and people who it had negative effects on, and no it wasn’t my neighbour:)

Thankyou for everybody’s help :)

You found different research? Links please.

Given that pregnant women are discouraged from doing anything with even the tiniest risk associated, I find it hard to believe that they would be recommended to have the flu and whooping cough vaccines unless the benefits vastly outweigh the risks. Do you know how serious flu is for heavily pregnant women? Do you know how dangerous whooping cough is for newborns?

Given how many threads there have been on this recently I’m starting to wonder if some of them have not been made in good faith. I’m not accusing you OP, but bear in mind that threads you read online might not be all that they seem. There is a lot of misinformation about health matters and vaccines at the moment... I wonder why

Read the side effects information which is available, and make up your own mind. For nearly all pregnant women the worst that will happen is you’ll get a sore arm for a few days and may feel under the weather. Very rarely there are more serious side effects but talk to your midwife about these if you’re worried about it.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/flu-jab-vaccine-pregnant/

www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/flu-influenza-vaccine/

the world is full of idiots OP- pls get both. A friends mum told me about when her baby had whooping cough in the 80s, you wouldn’t wish that on your child!
Had my flu vaccine last wk, 37 wks pregnant- no issues

It’s recommended by the NHS - you can trust them, more than any other source. They have no financial interest in giving you the vaccine. Their only incentive is protecting you and your baby.

I don’t normally bother getting the flu vaccine (young, healthy, never get flu) but I had mine a week ago because I will always follow the advice of my midwife on things like this. It’s a very safe vaccine which has enormous benefits; flu when you’re pregnant can be very serious.

Never heard of anyone turn it down. I had it last pregnancy. I had it last week for this pregnancy. I also had it when I was breastfeeding. Anything I can do to protect my baby, I'll do.

Also had whooping cough vaccine both times.

I had my first flu jab this year at 10 weeks pregnant, I'd never got round to it before. I honestly went home and said "I'm not sure she even did it, I didn't feel a thing". My arm became sore after a few hours and was sore for a few days after.

The flu jab doesn't just protect you, it also protects your baby when they are born and have no immune system of their own, when they are too small for a flu jab of their own. Flu isn't just a bad cold for pregnant women, we're so immunologically compromised with growing another human that the flu could be deadly even if the worst you'd had it before was a couple of days of feeling rubbish. For me it was a no-brainer.

Well there are quite a few people who refuse to have their children vaccinated aswell, but they don't strike me as the brightest either.

I’m confident that it is safe, and will keep me and my baby safe. I had it at 35 weeks and no problems. If you got Covid +flu that really would be a risk to you and your baby.

Strikes me that anyone who turns it down has never had flu/ it’s not a bad cold, it’s hell! Can’t imagine a newborn dealing with that.

Thankyou everybody

Another thread on this? Agree with a pp there is an agenda here, probably by anti vaxxers.

Yes of course you should get the flu jab and the whooping cough jab. If the NHS are recommending it, it is clearly something you need.

Flu is very dangerous for pregnant women - young, otherwise healthy women ending up in ITU and on heart-lung machines. The advice about shielding for COVID was based on the increased risks of contracting flu in the third trimester.
The whooping cough vaccine is to protect your baby after they are born and before they have received routine immunisations. Whooping cough can kill small babies.

I'm 30w and had both jabs on the same day ... ignore the anti-vax mob!!!

Flu in pregnancy is horrific, u can only take paracetamol and will be in bed for 10days!!! Take the jab, u'll thank urself later