By Staff Reports
(Hawaii)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
The flu can be especially hard on a pregnant woman or a newborn. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Stacie Greby says that’s because pregnancy changes a woman’s immune system, heart, and lungs. She says those changes can set a woman up for severe complications if they get the flu.
So health experts recommend pregnant women get vaccinated. Greby points out some of the benefits:
“It not only protects them, it protects their unborn child and can protect their newborn child as well – especially since a baby less than 6 months of age cannot be vaccinated.”
Greby says vaccination is safe for mom and baby – and makes things better for both.
A study on pregnancy and flu vaccination is in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Learn more at healthfinder.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.