By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor - Thu Oct 29, 2:51 PM PDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When pregnant women get vaccinated against flu, their babies are bigger, healthier and less likely to be premature, researchers reported on Thursday.
The studies show that influenza vaccines protect not only women, who are extremely vulnerable to flu when pregnant, but also their babies before and after birth, the researchers said.
They hope their findings, presented at a meeting in Philadelphia of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, will encourage women to get vaccinated and encourage their doctors to offer the shots.
"We are talking about one vaccine protecting two individuals," Dr. Marietta Vazquez of Yale University in Connecticut told a news conference. "Maybe if they are not getting vaccinated for themselves, they will do it for their babies."
Pregnant women are at special peril from flu in any year. Their immune systems are suppressed to keep the body from rejecting the fetus, and the growing baby presses on their lungs.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has for years recommended that pregnant women be vaccinated against seasonal flu.
This year, with the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, pregnant women are at the front of the line. The CDC says more than 1,000 Americans have died of swine flu, and figures show that 6 percent of deaths have been among pregnant women.
But only 15 percent to 25 percent are ever vaccinated, and babies under the age of 6 months are too young to get a flu vaccine.
"Obstetricians do not offer influenza vaccine. They should know about this recommendation," Vazquez said.
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