Vaccinations: What’s Safe and What’s Not
Preventing disease is vital during pregnancy for the safety of a woman and her unborn child. Vaccinations are a good way to prevent getting sicknesses, however when your pregnant some vaccines can cause harm themselves.
"MMR vaccinations should be postponed until after the pregnancy. Rubella vaccinations should definitely be something which occurs after the baby is born," says Dr. Robert Aepli, OB/GYN.
Dr. Aepli says stay away from any vaccine that uses a live pathogens.
"Generally a rule is that live attenuated virus vaccinations are not good during pregnancy."
But there are some vaccines that are perfectly safe, such as tetanus. And some that doctors can save your life and your child’s.
"Seasonal flu as well as H1N1 vaccinations are definitely recommended during pregnancy," he says.
Getting an H1N1 shot is as easy as going to you local Health Department. In Muskingum County the Health Department has more than 1000 H1N1 vaccines left, and they will be getting seasonal flu vaccines in at the end of September.
"This is considered very safe and actually you need to think of it as a way to protect yourself from becoming very severely ill or even dying," says Dr. Whitacre, Muskingum County Health Department.
Pregnant women need to protect themselves from getting H1N1 at all costs.
"They’re immuno compromised because of the pregnancy and they had a significant amount, like one in three of the ladies hospitalized for H1N1 were admitted to the intensive care unit and then about five to six percent of them died, so they have the highest rate of death from H1N1 infection," says Dr. Whitacre.
Dr. Whitacre says even if you’re not concerned for your own health think about your child.
"Every pregnant lady should get that, not only to protect herself but her baby that’s going to be born, because the baby can’t have the flu shot before the age of six months," she says.
The Health Department gives free flu shots, all you have to do is call 454-9741 and make an appointment.
