The period following delivery but before an infant acquires immunity to diseases by natural exposure or immunization — is when infant mortality from infections is highest. Vaccinating pregnant women has shown to be effective in protecting young infants against influenza and pertussis.
Influenza
Immunizing pregnant women against influenza reduces the risk of illness and hospitalization in infants
Infants born to mothers who reported receiving influenza vaccination during pregnancy had a 64% lower risk of getting influenza-like illness in their first 6 months of life, a 70% lower risk of laboratory-confirmed influenza, and an 81% lower chance of being hospitalized with influenza than infants whose mothers did not report getting the influenza vaccine during pregnancy. Since influenza vaccines are not effective in children less than 6 months old, immunizing pregnant women against influenza is a public health priority.
Data is from a study spanning more than 8 years at a large healthcare organization in the Western U.S.
Investments in influenza pandemic preparedness has huge economic benefits, potentially saving billions of dollars
Although the upfront investment in preparedness is costly – severe influenza pandemic preparedness is US$4.5bn a year – the estimated annual economic benefits would total US$60bn and US$490bn through averted deaths. “Even if only one tenth of these benefits were to materialize, the returns to public investment in preparedness would still be extraordinarily high.”
Flu vaccination in children may reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions during influenza season
Among 33,000 preschool children in the UK (who received at least one prescription of amoxicillin) there were ~15% fewer amoxicillin prescriptions given during the influenza season to children who had received the live attenuated influenza vaccine than among children who were not vaccinated. This suggests that flu vaccination may lead to a reduction in excess, inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics for influenza in children.
Babies whose mothers are vaccinated against rubella before pregnancy are protected from permanent disabilities
Mothers infected with rubella virus during the first trimester of pregnancy can give birth to children with permanent disabilities such as intellectual impairment, autism, blindness, deafness, and cardiac defects. The infection is completely preventable if mothers are vaccinated before pregnancy.
Respiratory infections during pregnancy may exert indirect effects on the developing fetus
Respiratory infections during pregnancy may exert indirect effects on the developing fetus through placental function and maternal immune responses. This in turn may lead to pre-term births and reduced growth of the fetus. However, a review of recent studies, researchers show that administration of influenza vaccine during pregnancy adds 200 grams to newborn weight and that PCV7 vaccine given to infants translates into an additional 500 grams of growth in the first 6 months of life. In addition, maternal influenza vaccine led to a 15% reduction in low birth-weight. This indicates that immunization can improve intrauterine growth.
Increases in immunization can save lives, particularly in low- and middle-income countries
Increased uptake of immunization for vaccine-preventable diseases, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, could save the lives of thousands of mothers and children each year. The disease burden of tetanus, influenza, and pertussis has been minimized in many countries through maternal immunization, but wider applications of this strategy are now needed.
Immunization against tetanus, pertussis, and influenza can profoundly improve the health of pregnant mothers and their children
Immunization against tetanus, pertussis and influenza during pregnancy has been shown to have a profound effect on the health of the mother and fetus, and increases survival of infants in their first months of life. Maternal immunizations with tetanus toxoid-containing vaccines has been one of the main contributors to the 94% reduction in global deaths due to tetanus since 1988. Between the 1970s to the early 2000s, maternal immunization against pertussis brought disease incidence down to 5,000 cases per year from the earlier 100,000-250,000 cases per year in the United States. Vaccination of mothers for influenza has brought down confirmed cases of the disease by 63%.
Influenza outbreaks can have massive economic impacts
Researchers modeled the costs, using the UK’s 2004 economy, of potential pandemic flu in the UK. Costs of illness alone ranged between 0.5% and 1.0% of gross domestic product (£8.4bn to £16.8bn) for low fatality scenarios, 3.3% and 4.3% (£55.5bn to £72.3bn) for high fatality scenarios, and larger still for an extreme pandemic. Vaccination with a pre-pandemic vaccine could save 0.13% to 2.3% of gross domestic product (£2.2bn to £38.6bn); a single dose of a matched vaccine could save 0.3% to 4.3% (£5.0bn to £72.3bn), and two doses of a matched vaccine could limit the overall economic impact to about 1% of gross domestic product for all disease scenarios.
Undernourished children have a higher likelihood for diarrhea and pneumonia but immunization can improve infant growth
Multiple studies show that
- Diarrhea and pneumonia impair children’s growth and that underlying malnutrition is a major risk factor for these conditions.
- “Episodes of diarrhea may predispose to pneumonia in undernourished children” and
- Immunization against influenza (in mothers) and Streptococcus pneumoniae may improve infant growth. In addition, new studies from Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, and Israel further support the paradigm that malnutrition is a key risk factor for diarrhea and pneumonia.