CDC Says You May Want to Get Your Flu Shot Sooner If You’re Pregnant
This summer. Pretty soon, pharmacies will start touting that they have flu vaccines, perhaps even luring you in with the promise of a coupon to come and buy the vaccine. But August is too early for that to be a good idea, unless you’re pregnant.
Why Most People Should Get the Flu Shot in September or October
Flu season usually starts in late fall or early winter, so you should be protected by the time the flu virus starts to spread. If you get your flu shot before Halloween, you’re on the right track. Whether you get vaccinated in September or October doesn’t really matter; The CDC says both months are good.
Summer flu shots may make sense for people who don’t think they’ll have a chance to get vaccinated in the fall; for example, if your child has an annual check-up every year in August and you don’t have an easy way to get them vaccinated in the fall, you can also ask them to get vaccinated at their check-up. Better early than never, and better early than late.
By the way, if you miss your opportunity and find that it’s still November (or December or January) before you can get vaccinated, get it anyway. Being protected in the second half of the season is better than not being protected at all.
Why summer flu shots make sense in the third trimester
If you are pregnant and in your first or second trimester, you should still follow the usual recommendations and aim to get your flu shot in September or October. But if you’re in the third trimester – the last three months of your pregnancy – keep reading.
Babies cannot get a flu shot until they are 6 months old, so a baby born this fall will be vulnerable to flu. (Some vaccines may be effective if given at birth or at a very early age; flu vaccines are not among them.)
But we pass antibodies across the placenta to our children in the later stages of pregnancy, and these antibodies may actually stay with them for the first few weeks or months of life. For this reason, it has been recommended over the past few years that pregnant women receive the TDAP vaccine in the third trimester of pregnancy in order to protect the baby from whooping cough (whooping cough) until they can receive their own vaccine at 2 months.
The CDC is now extending that recommendation to the flu shot. You must get the TDAP vaccine in the third trimester, regardless of the time of year; and you should get your third trimester flu shot, even if that means getting it in July or August . Thus, babies born in the fall will be born with antibodies against the flu.