Study: Vaccine prevents flu hospitalization in pregnant women

Flu vaccination during pregnancy can reduce a woman’s chance of severe illness—enough to require hospitalization—by 40%, according to a new study that spanned four countries and six flu seasons. The findings, the first to look specifically at hospitalization, help answer a key question about use of the vaccine during pregnancy and may help guide public health policies, especially in low- and middle-income countries, a multinational team led by researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Pregnant women are known to be at risk for flu complications, and the strategy of vaccinating women during pregnancy is a research-backed strategy for protecting newborns who are too young to be vaccinated. The CDC estimates, however, that only about half of pregnant women get the flu shot, despite a strong safety record. Allison Naleway, PhD, study coauthor from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, said in a CDC...