A guide to vaccines in pregnancy

Confused about vaccines in pregnancy? Senior NHS Midwife, Hannah O’Sullivan has you covered. Read on to find out what vaccines you’ll be offered, and when. 

In the UK, women and birthing people are offered a variety of vaccines during pregnancy. The internet can be a scary and confusing place when it comes to vaccine information, so you might like to save the link to this post to refer to later on. 

It’s important to remember that with vaccines - as with all treatments and care you’re offered in pregnancy - the decision to accept is your choice. It might be useful to know, though, that since vaccine programmes have been introduced many life-threatening illnesses, such as Smallpox, have been wiped out. 

Pertussis aka Whooping Cough

This vaccine is given ideally between 16 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, but it can be given up until labour. This means that if you don’t have the vaccine when you are first offered it, there is still time to change your mind later on - up until you go into labour. 

The vaccine is given to produce an antibody response in the mother or gestative parent. Antibodies then cross the placenta and protect the baby until their own vaccine at 8 weeks of age.

In recent years the rates of Whooping Cough have increased, which has affected unvaccinated young babies.

Most babies with Whooping Cough will require admission to hospital. Immunity from the vaccine you receive in pregnancy can also be passed in breast milk. In the UK, the vaccine also contains boosters for Tetanus and Diptheria because no single vaccine is available. This vaccine is safe in pregnancy, with side effects including a sore vaccination site (you might notice some swelling and redness) and mild fever. It’s an inactivated organism in the vaccine, which means it cannot give the illness it’s protecting you from. 

Flu vaccine 

In the UK, the flu vaccine is offered to anyone who is classed as high risk. Pregnant women and people are included in this list. This is because there is some suppression of the immune system during pregnancy, making those who are pregnant more susceptible to flu. 

Those who catch flu in pregnancy are more likely to be severely unwell and require hospital admission. Severe flu infection in pregnancy can also lead to premature birth, low birth weight babies and even stillbirth. For this reason, if you live in the UK and you’re pregnant from September to April (known as “flu season”) you’ll be offered the flu vaccine. 

You can be given the flu vaccine at any stage of pregnancy. The vaccine is designed to protect you, although some immunity is likely to be passed across the placenta. It’s an inactive vaccine, meaning it can’t give you flu. Side effects include a possible sore, swollen injection site and mild fever. 

For information about the Covid-19 vaccine click here.