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Flu vaccination for pregnant women benefits the fetus
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Vaccination of pregnant women against influenza not only protects the mother from the disease, but also benefits the fetus. Vaccinated mothers have a significantly reduced risk of premature birth and the birth of a full-term baby with low birth weight, and their children are less likely to die before birth or die during it.
This is the conclusion reached by a group of Canadian scientists studying statistics of births that occurred in the province of Ontario during the H1N1 flu epidemic in 2009-2010. Their work was published in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
The authors' study included information on the outcomes of 55,570 singleton pregnancies entered into the Ontario Provincial Population Database from November 2009 to April 2010. Of the pregnant women, 42 percent had been vaccinated against influenza, while the rest had not.
Comparing birth data, the researchers found that those who received the vaccine were 34 percent (or one-third) less likely to have a stillbirth, 28 percent less likely to have a birth before 32 weeks, and 19 percent less likely to have a baby who was small for gestational age.
The authors of the study also emphasize that they did not find any negative consequences of vaccination for the health of the mother and child during the perinatal period.
According to one of the co-authors, Dr. Ann Sprague, the results of the study were unexpected for the team members themselves. "We were surprised by the persuasiveness and certainty of the benefits that mothers and children receive from vaccination," EurekAlert! Quotes Sprague as saying. At the same time, the authors of the work point out that research in this area should be continued.