Vaccinations During Pregnancy
If you are pregnant there are three, fully funded, vaccinations that you should make sure you are up-to-date with to safeguard the health of you and your baby - whooping cough, flu and COVID-19.
In this video, Nisha introduces herself and tells us about those three vaccinations and why they are important to get when you are pregnant.
Whooping cough
Whooping cough is a serious disease that is especially dangerous to babies under one year old. If you are pregnant and get vaccinated between 16 and 38 weeks of gestation, then your baby gets antibodies that protect them in the crucial first few weeks of life. Newborns get their own doses of the vaccine at 6 weeks, 3 months and 5 months old.
Influenza (flu)
Flu isn’t just a bad cold, and always has the potential to get serious. Pregnant people often have reduced immune systems and so are at greater risk of suffering serious consequences if they catch the flu.
If you get the flu while you are pregnant it could cause serious complications like premature birth, low birthweight and even miscarriage or stillbirth.
The flu vaccine is different every year, to cover the strains expected over New Zealand winter, and is available from 1st of April every year. It makes sense to get your flu vaccination every year regardless of whether you are planning on getting pregnant but is particularly important to get if you are pregnant.
COVID-19
Just because you don’t hear much about it doesn’t mean that COVID-19 has gone away or got any less serious.
While evidence suggests that catching COVID-19 during pregnancy does not cause miscarriage or abnormalities in your baby, your immune system potentially being weaker than usual means it has more potential to make you seriously ill, which increases the chances of you baby being born early.
If your vaccination against COVID-19 is up to date then your pēpi also gets protection from your antibodies.
Pregnant people are eligible for their 2 initial COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters, which are given 6 months after your last vaccination or infection, for free.
Find out more
Please contact our pharmacists if you want to discuss the vaccinations that you should get before, and while you are pregnant. You can use the button below if you want to book in to get your vaccinations.
For more information:
https://info.health.nz/immunisations/when-to-immunise/pregnancy-and-immunisations
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