Earlier this year, a subgroup of the JCVI assessed the evidence for effectiveness and safety of the flu vaccine. They noted there was a risk of side-effects, but studies in the US where pregnant women are given a flu vaccine showed this was small.
About 10-15% of the population develop flu each year, and the infection kills around several thousand people in the UK. Professor John Oxford, a virologist at Queen Mary College School of Medicine, London, said: "It's a big initiative. We know women in pregnancy are more vulnerable and are at extra risk from flu. We're not the first country to do it. The JCVI is trying to protect women during pregnancy and help protect the baby."
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said no final decision would be made until ministers had considered the recommendations. In the past three years there have been shortages of flu vaccine for those who are already eligible. GPs were warned at the beginning of October that vaccine delays would mean some high risk patients might not be vaccinated until December this year.
In a separate development, a study published recently in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggested influenza and pneumonia during pregnancy were associated with increased risk of leukaemia in the unborn baby. The researchers at the University of California also suggested sexually transmitted disease during pregnancy increased the risk of leukaemia in the child.
October 2006 |
