Pregnant? Get a Flu Shot!

If you're pregnant, a flu shot is your best protection against serious flu illness. A flu shot can protect pregnant women and their developing babies. A flu shot can also protect babies after they are born.

The Flu and Pregnant Women

If you're pregnant, a flu shot is your best protection against serious illness and complications from the flu.

Flu is more likely to cause severe illness in pregnant women than in women who are not pregnant. Changes in the immune system, heart and lungs during pregnancy make pregnant women more prone to developing severe illness from flu, which can lead to hospitalization or even death. A pregnant woman sick with the flu also has a greater chance that her baby will suffer as a result of premature labor and delivery.

Screenshot from Protect Yourself Protect Your Baby video

A flu shot can protect pregnant women and their developing babies. A flu shot can also protect babies after they are born. Watch a short, fun video that explains why!

The Flu Shot is the Best Protection against Flu

Getting a flu shot is the first and most important step in protecting against flu. When given during pregnancy, the flu shot has been shown to protect both the mother and her developing baby from serious flu-related complications. If you get vaccinated during pregnancy, your baby also is born with some flu antibodies that will help protect them from flu for up to 6 months after they are born. This is important because babies younger than 6 months can't get vaccinated yet, but they are at highest risk of being hospitalized from the flu. An additional way to protect your baby after birth is for all of the baby's caregivers and close contacts (including brothers and sisters, grandparents and babysitters) to also get vaccinated against the flu. Learn more about the importance offlu vaccination for pregnant women[512 KB].

You can get a flu shot during any trimester of your pregnancy. (Pregnant women should not get the nasal spray vaccine.)

The Flu Shot is Safe for Pregnant Women

Flu shots are a safe way to protect pregnant women and their developing babies from serious illness and flu-related complications like pneumonia. The flu shot has been given to millions of pregnant women over many years. Flu shots have not been shown to cause harm to pregnant women or their babies. The shot is safe to get during any trimester, The side effects that can occur from a flu shot, like soreness or redness where the shot is given, are very minor compared to the serious problems that flu illness could cause for pregnant women and their babies.

It is very important for pregnant women to get the flu shot. Some pregnant women are worried about trace amounts of thimerosal in flu shots. Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative that has been used for decades in the United States in multi-dose vials (vials containing more than one dose) of some vaccines to prevent their contamination with germs, bacteria and fungi. Some of the flu shots produced for the United States each flu season come in multi-dose vials, and contain thimerosal to safeguard against possible contamination of the vial once it is opened. Manufacturers also make single-dose flu shots without thimerosal.

The single-dose units are made without thimerosal as a preservative because they are intended to be opened and used only once. While the most recent and rigorous scientific research shows that thimerosal-containing vaccines are not harmful, if you are worried about thimerosal, just ask your doctor or other health care professional for a thimerosal-free flu shot.