Seasonal Flu Vaccine Safety and Pregnant Women

Influenza is more likely to cause severe illness in pregnant women than in women who are not pregnant. Changes in the immune system, heart, and lungs during pregnancy make pregnant women more prone to severe illness from influenza as well as hospitalizations and even death. Pregnant women with influenza also have a greater chance for serious problems for their unborn babies, including premature labor and delivery.

Why should pregnant women get the seasonal flu vaccine?

Pregnant women have a higher risk for serious complications from influenza than non-pregnant women of reproductive age. Influenza vaccine will protect pregnant women, their unborn babies, and protect the baby after birth.
To prevent influenza and complications in pregnant women, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in 2004 began recommending routine immunization of pregnant women with the flu shot at any stage of pregnancy. The nasal spray vaccine is not recommended for use in pregnant women. More information on the ACIP recommendations for influenza vaccination during the 2013-2014 season.

Is it safe for pregnant women to get seasonal flu vaccine?

Yes. The seasonal flu shot has been given safely to millions of pregnant women over many years. Flu shots have not been shown to cause harm to pregnant women or their babies.

Can a breastfeeding mother receive the flu shot or the nasal spray?

Yes. Seasonal flu vaccines should be given to breastfeeding mothers and breastfeeding women can receive either the shot or the nasal spray form of the vaccine. Breastfeeding is fully compatible with flu vaccination, and preventing the flu in mothers can reduce the chance that the infant will get the flu. This is especially important for infants younger than 6 months old, since they are too young to be vaccinated.

What research shows that seasonal flu vaccine is safe for unborn babies?

Studies of several thousand pregnant women in scientific literature have assessed the safety of using the flu vaccine during pregnancy. These studies have shown no evidence of harm to pregnant women, to the unborn child (or fetus) or to newborns of vaccinated women. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) and CDC’s routine monitoring of adverse events has not raised safety concerns.

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What side effects have pregnant women experienced from the seasonal flu shot?

The most common side effects after flu shots are mild, such as being sore and tender and/or red and swollen where the shot was given. Some people might have headache, muscle aches, fever, and nausea or feel tired. If these problems happen, they usually begin soon after the shot is given and may last as long as 1-2 days. Some people may faint after getting any shot. Sometimes, flu shots can cause serious problems like severe allergic reactions. But, life-threatening allergic reactions to vaccines are very rare. A person who has a severe (life-threatening) allergy to eggs or to anything else in the vaccine should not get the shot, even if she is pregnant. Pregnant women should tell the person giving the shots if they have any severe allergies or if they have ever had a severe allergic reaction following a flu shot.

What studies has CDC conducted on adverse events in pregnant women who received seasonal flu vaccine?

CDC, in collaboration with FDA, recently conducted a search of reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) of pregnant women who received seasonal influenza vaccines from 1990 to 2009 to assess potential vaccine safety concerns. The results of this study were recently published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Overall, the study concluded that no unusual patterns of pregnancy complications or adverse fetal outcomes were observed in the VAERS reports of pregnant women after being given the flu shot or nasal spray flu vaccine (while the nasal spray is not recommended for pregnant women, scientists were reassured to find that the inadvertent administration of this vaccine to pregnant women did not result in reported unexpected reactions). Data from CDC’s 19-year review of VAERS add to an existing body of evidence supporting the safety of the flu shot for pregnant women.
CDC is also conducting studies of flu vaccine safety and pregnancy through the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD). The results of a VSD study of flu vaccine and spontaneous abortions were also published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The study provides reassuring findings that flu vaccine given to pregnant women during the first trimester of pregnancy does not increase the risk of spontaneous abortion.

What do studies show about pregnant women and the safety of last year’s flu vaccine?

Considerable efforts were made to study the safety of vaccinating pregnant women with the seasonal flu vaccine during 2010-2011. There were no signals or safety concerns identified in pregnant women who received the seasonal flu vaccine during this period.

How is the safety of the 2013-2014 seasonal flu vaccine being monitored?

As part of its influenza vaccine monitoring activities, CDC and FDA are monitoring the safety of seasonal influenza and other vaccines licensed for use in the United States, in cooperation with state and local health departments, health care providers, and other partners. Monitoring the safety of seasonal flu vaccine in pregnant women is part of this effort.
Two main systems being used to monitor flu vaccine safety are VAERS, which is jointly operated with FDA, and the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) Project, managed and coordinated by CDC’s Immunization Safety Office. Other systems are also being used. Through vaccine safety monitoring, CDC and FDA are able to quickly identify any clinically significant adverse events following immunization that warrant further study or action to protect the health of the public.
More information on Pregnant Women & Influenza (Flu).

Content from CDC

PREPAREDNESS ON A BUDGET - It Doesn’t Cost a lot to be Prepared

It is no secret that many families and individuals are looking to cut back on spending. But with the frequency of disasters, both natural and manmade, can you afford not to be prepared? Preparedness doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

September is National Preparedness Month, and we are asking you to help your family and friends prepare for whatever may come. Here are a few tips on how you can protect those that matter to you without spending a fortune.

Make a Plan. Work with you family and neighbors to make an emergency plan for the types of disasters that affect your area. Make sure everyone in your family understands where to go and what to do in case of an emergency. You can download Family Emergency Plan templates Ready.gov/make-a-plan.

Update Contact Information. Having accurate records for family, friends and neighbors will help you stay in contact and possibly help those in need. Make sure updated contact information is posted in visible places throughout your house and workplace. Family Emergency Plan

Check Your Policy. Review your insurance policy annually and make any necessary changes- and renters, do the same too! When a disaster strikes, you want to know that your coverage will get you back on your feet.

Make a Ready List. You may not need all of the items in ready-made preparedness kits. Choose the essentials that fit your needs and budget. Don’t forget to keep supplies at work and in your car. Sample Ready Lists can be found at Ready.gov/build-a-kit.

Plan Your Purchases. You can save money by thinking ahead. Don’t buy preparedness items just before a storm when they’re expensive and supplies will be in high demand. Buy items at the end of the season when you can get good deals.

Shop Sales. Shop at sales and used goods stores. Buy preparedness items throughout the year, instead of all at once, and you won’t notice the cost as much.

Make Sure it Keeps. Store water in safe, containers. You don’t need to buy expensive bottled water, just make sure your water containers are disinfected and airtight

Request a Gift. We all get things we don’t need. Suggest preparedness supplies as gifts from your friends and family. It just might save your life.

Trade a Night Out. Trade one night out to fund your 72-hour kit. Taking a family of four to the movies can cost upwards of $80. Just one night staying in could fund your Ready kit.

Start now! Take small steps toward preparedness and before you know it, you will be Ready!

For more information, check out:

Emergency Financial First Aid Kit

Follow us: @Readygov

Email us: ready@fema.gov  or citizencorps@dhs.gov

Order publications: call 1-800-BE-READY, 1-888-SE-LISTO, and TTY 1-800-462-7585

Monthly Preparedness text messages: Text PREPARE to 43362 (4FEMA) to receive monthly preparedness tips. (msg/data rates apply)

National Preparedness Month 2013

This September: You Can Be the Hero.

September is National Preparedness Month (NPM). It is a time to prepare yourself and those in your care for emergencies and disasters. If you’ve seen the news recently, you know that emergencies can happen unexpectedly in communities just like yours, to people like you. We’ve seen tornado outbreaks, river floods and flash floods, historic earthquakes, tsunamis, and even water main breaks and power outages in U.S. cities affecting millions of people for days at a time.

Police, fire and rescue may not always be able to reach you quickly in an emergency or disaster. The most important step you can take in helping your local responders is being able to take care of yourself and those in your care; the more people who are prepared, the quicker the community will recover

This September, please prepare and plan in the event you must go for three days without electricity, water service, access to a supermarket, or local services for several days. Just follow these four steps:

Stay Informed: Information is available from federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial resources. Access Ready.gov to learn what to do before, during, and after an emergency.

Make a Plan: Discuss, agree on, and document an emergency plan with those in your care. For sample plans, see Ready.gov. Work together with neighbors, colleagues, and others to build community resilience.

Build a Kit: Keep enough emergency supplies - water, nonperishable food, first aid, prescriptions, flashlight, and battery-powered radio on hand - for you and those in your care.

Get Involved: There are many ways to get involved especially before a disaster occurs. The whole community can participate in programs and activities to make their families, homes and places of worship safer from risks and threats. Community leaders agree that the formula for ensuring a safer homeland consists of volunteers, a trained and informed public, and increased support of emergency response agencies during disasters.

By taking a few simple actions, you can make your family safer. Consider planning a Ready Kids event in your community to encourage families to get prepared with their children.

Volunteer to present preparedness information in your child’s class or in PTO/PTA meetings.

Invite officials from your local Office of Emergency Management, Citizen Corps Council, or first responder teams to speak at schools or youth events.

Use local emergency management resources to learn more about preparedness in your community.

Contact your local emergency management agency to get essential information on specific hazards to your area, local plans for shelter and evacuation, ways to get information before and during an emergency, and how to sign up for emergency alerts if they are available

Contact your local firehouse and ask for a tour and information about preparedness

Get involved with your local American Red Cross Chapter or train with a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

For more information, check out:

Ready.gov/be-informed

Ready.gov/make-a-plan

Ready.gov/build-a-kit

Ready.gov/get-involved

Follow us: @Readygov

Email us: ready@fema.gov  or citizencorps@dhs.gov

Monthly Preparedness text messages: Text PREPARE to 43362 (4FEMA) to receive monthly

preparedness tips. (msg/data rates apply)

Order publications: call 1-800-BE-READY, 1-888-SE-LISTO, and TTY 1-800-462-7585

Five Important Reasons to Vaccinate Your Child

National Immunization Awareness Month is a reminder

 that we all need vaccines throughout our lives.

You want to do what is best for your children. You know about the importance of car seats, baby gates and other ways to keep them safe. But, did you know that one of the best ways to protect your children is to make sure they have all of their vaccinations? 

Immunizations can save your child’s life. Because of advances in medical science, your child can be protected against more diseases than ever before. Some diseases that once injured or killed thousands of children, have been eliminated completely and others are close to extinction – primarily due to safe and effective vaccines. One example of the great impact that vaccines can have is the elimination of polio in the United States. Polio was once America’s most-feared disease, causing death and paralysis across the country, but today, thanks to vaccination, there are no reports of polio in the United States.

Vaccination is very safe and effective. Vaccines are only given to children after a long and careful review by scientists, doctors, and healthcare professionals. Vaccines will involve some discomfort and may cause pain, redness, or tenderness at the site of injection but this is minimal compared to the pain, discomfort, and trauma of the diseases these vaccines prevent. Serious side effects following vaccination, such as severe allergic reaction, are very rare. The disease-prevention benefits of getting vaccines are much greater than the possible side effects for almost all children.

Immunization protects others you care about. Children in the U.S. still get vaccine-preventable diseases. In fact, we have seen resurgences of measles and whooping cough (pertussis) over the past few years. In 2010 the U.S. had over 21,000 cases of whooping cough reported and 26 deaths, most in children younger than 6 months. Unfortunately, some babies are too young to be completely vaccinated and some people may not be able to receive certain vaccinations due to severe allergies, weakened immune systems from conditions like leukemia, or other reasons. To help keep them safe, it is important that you and your children who are able to get vaccinated are fully immunized. This not only protects your family, but also helps prevent the spread of these diseases to your friends and loved ones.

Immunizations can save your family time and money. A child with a vaccine-preventable disease can be denied attendance at schools or daycare facilities. Some vaccine-preventable diseases can result in prolonged disabilities and can take a financial toll because of lost time at work, medical bills or long-term disability care. In contrast, getting vaccinated against these diseases is a good investment and usually covered by insurance. The Vaccines for Children program is a federally funded program that provides vaccines at no cost to children from low-income families.

To find out more about the VFC program, visit http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/ or ask your child’s health care professional.

Immunization protects future generations. Vaccines have reduced and, in some cases, eliminated many diseases that killed or severely disabled people just a few generations ago. For example, smallpox vaccination eradicated that disease worldwide. Your children don’t have to get smallpox shots any more because the disease no longer exists. By vaccinating children against rubella (German measles), the risk that pregnant women will pass this virus on to their fetus or newborn has been dramatically decreased, and birth defects associated with that virus no longer are seen in the United States. If we continue vaccinating now, and vaccinating completely, parents in the future may be able to trust that some diseases of today will no longer be around to harm their children in the future.

For more information about the importance of infant immunization, visit http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines.

ADULTS: IMMUNIZATIONS ARE NOT JUST FOR KIDS

National Immunization Awareness Month is a reminder that we all need vaccines throughout our lives.

That’s right. The need for immunizations doesn’t end with childhood. Each year, thousands of adults in the United States suffer serious health problems, are hospitalized, or even die from diseases that could be prevented by vaccines, including influenza, whooping cough, certain bacterial infections, hepatitis A and B, shingles, and even some cancers such as cervical cancer and liver cancer. Talk to your doctor today to find out which vaccines are recommended for you.

           

Most people don’t realize that adults need immunizations, too. While many recognize that a flu vaccine is recommended every year, few adults are aware of the need for other vaccines to help protect their health.

Protection from some childhood immunizations wears off over time, leaving you vulnerable to disease. For example, there has been a rise in cases of whooping cough in the last few years with over 41,000 cases being reported in 2012. We have learned that the protection from DTaP whooping cough vaccine given to children doesn’t last into adulthood, so all adults are now recommended to get one dose of Tdap whooping cough vaccine.

Adults may be recommended for certain vaccines due to their age, job, hobbies, travel, or health condition. Other vaccines may be recommended if they didn’t get certain vaccines as children. 

Check your immunization records to be sure you got the HPV vaccine, Measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, and varicella “chicken pox” vaccines.

Some adults, including older adults and those that have chronic health conditions, may be at higher risk for serious complications from some vaccine-preventable diseases. For example, because older age increases the chance of getting shingles, CDC recommends that adults get the shingles vaccine once they turn 60 years old.

People with diabetes, heart disease, and COPD or asthma, even if well managed, are more likely than those without these conditions to have complications from the flu. To prevent possible complications like pneumonia, people with these chronic conditions should get a pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine in addition to a yearly flu vaccine.

But those aren’t the only reasons to stay up-to-date on vaccinations. 

Adult immunization is necessary because it not only protects the person receiving the vaccine, but also helps prevent the spread of certain diseases to loved ones and those in the community who are most vulnerable to disease (like those with weakened immune systems and infants).

They don’t have a choice, but you do.

Vaccines are available at private doctor’s offices, as well as other convenient locations such as pharmacies, workplaces, community health clinics, and health departments. To find an immunization provider near you, go to http://vaccine.healthmap.org.

Getting vaccinated is an important step we can take to protect ourselves and loved ones from vaccine-preventable diseases. Yet too many adults—perhaps even you—are not up to date. Talk with your doctor to find out which vaccines are right for you.

For more information on vaccines or to take an adult vaccine quiz to find out which vaccines you might need, go to www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/index.html.

Pre-teens and Teens Need HPV Vaccine Now to Prevent HPV-related Cancers Later

National Immunization Awareness Month is a reminder

 that we all need vaccines throughout our lives.

HPV vaccination is recommended for pre-teen girls and boys at age 11 or 12 years. If your son or daughter hasn’t started or finished the HPV vaccine series yet – it’s not too late! Now is a good time to ask their doctor or nurse about vaccines for your pre-teens and teens.

HPV is short for human papillomavirus. In the U.S. each year, there are about 18,000 women and 7,000 men affected by HPV-related cancers. In both women and men, HPV can cause anal cancer and mouth/throat (oropharyngeal) cancer. It can also cause cancers of the cervix, vulva and vagina in women, and cancer of the penis in men. The HPV infections that cause these cancers could be prevented with vaccination.

The HPV vaccine has a very good safety record. More than 46 million doses have been distributed and vaccine safety studies continue to show that HPV vaccines are safe.

Jacquelyn, a real-life mother of two and cervical cancer survivor, shares her story:

When I got a Pap test after my son was born, I found out I had cancer and needed a total hysterectomy.

My husband and I have been together for 15 years, and we were planning to have more children. We are so grateful for our two wonderful children, but we were hoping for more – which is not going to happen now.

Although they caught the cancer early, I still have medical issues taking time away from my family, my friends and my job.

Worse, every time the doctor calls, I hold my breath until I get the results. Cancer is always in the back of my mind.

I will protect my son and daughter by getting them both the HPV vaccine as soon as they turn 11. I tell everyone to get the HPV vaccine series to protect them from this kind of cancer.

For more information about the HPV vaccine and the other vaccines recommended for pre-teens call the Monongalia County Health Department at 304-598-5119 or visit:

www.cdc.gov/vaccines/who/teens/for-parents.html

Do you have a pre-teen or teen? Protect them against serious diseases!

Leaving their phone at a friend’s house, suddenly needing a ride somewhere … you knew there would be days like this. But did you know that you’d also need to take your pre-teens and teens to get shots?

As they get older, kids are at increased risk for some infections. Plus the protection provided by some of the childhood vaccines begins to wear off, so kids need a booster dose. You may have heard about pertussis (whooping cough) outbreaks recently. Vaccine-preventable diseases are still real. The vaccines for pre-teens and teens can help protect your kids, as well as their friends, community and other family members.

There are four recommended vaccines that pre-teens should get when they are 11 or 12 years old. If you have an older kid like a teen, they’ll need a booster dose of one of the shots. Plus it’s not too late to get any shots they may have missed. You can use any healthcare visit, including sports physicals or some sick visits, to get the shots your kids need. The vaccines for pre-teens and teens are:

·         HPV vaccine for both boys and girls, which protects against the types of HPV that most commonly cause cancer. HPV can cause cancers of the cervix, vulva and vagina in women and cancers of the penis in men. In both women and men, HPV also causes mouth/throat cancer, anal cancer and genital warts.

·         Tdap vaccine, which is a booster against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. Pertussis, or whooping cough, can keep kids out of school and activities for weeks. It can also be spread to babies, which can be very dangerous and sometimes deadly.

·         Meningococcal vaccine, which protects against meningococcal disease. Meningococcal disease is caused by bacteria and is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis – a serious infection around the brain and spinal cord.

·         Influenza (flu) vaccine, because even healthy kids can get the flu, and it can be serious. All kids, including your pre-teens and teens, should get the flu vaccine every year.

Talk with a doctor, nurse, or clinic about the vaccines for pre-teens and teens. Even though they may not realize it, your kids still need you for more than a ride somewhere. They need you to continue protecting their health by getting them these important and life-saving vaccines.

Want to learn more about the vaccines for pre-teens and teens? Check out www.cdc.gov/vaccines/teens or call 1-800-CDC-INFO.