Vaccinations when Pregnant

If you are travelling to certain countries, you may need to have vaccinations to safeguard against diseases found in those areas. However, if you are pregnant, the general advice from the NHS is that not all vaccines are safe for your baby, especially live ones, which include vaccination against: yellow fever, typhoid, rubella, BCG and MMR.

Therefore, the NHS advise pregnant women to refrain from travelling to areas that normally require a vaccination. If your trip is unavoidable, then the advice is that it is better to get vaccinated than not to. The reasoning behind this is that your baby is more at risk from the disease, than from the vaccination itself.

Obviously, this is a very personal decision and you will have to weigh up the risks and benefits involved with both options, by speaking to doctors and carrying out your own research.

Different countries will have their own guidelines as to what travellers should be vaccinated against, and you must establish what the area you plan to travel to may require.

In addition to this, it is important to be aware that pregnant women are particularly susceptible to malaria, an extremely serious illness spread by insect bites. It is found in tropical countries, but is spreading to countries like the United States of America and even, Switzerland.

Avoiding travel to malarial areas seems to be the most sensible thing to do, and if that is not possible, make sure to seek advice from your doctor. Ensure that you use a strong insect repellent suitable for use during pregnancy and cover up to prevent being bitten by mosquitos.The NHS says if a trip to a malarial area is unable to be postponed, preventative treatment is available.

According to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists there are plenty of vaccines that can be used during pregnancy, although it is always best to check with your GP first. They include

Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Polio (injection)
Typhoid (injection)
Tetanus
Diphtheria
Measles
Rabies
Japanese encephalitis

Having said that, if you can avoid having these vaccines at all when pregnant it is obviously a better idea. It's best to discuss your individual concerns with your doctor or midwife before planning a trip abroad so that you can travel safely. bear in mind that some vaccinations may be safer in the second and third trimester of pregnancy than the first.

The vaccinations that aren't safe for pregnant women are:

Polio (oral)
Typhoid (oral)
Yellow Fever
MMR (see below)

This is because these vaccinations can affect unborn babies in the womb.

Rubella
Before conceiving it's a good idea to visit your GP and have all routine vaccinations before you become pregnant. Rubella is especially important to be vaccinated against before you conceive because it can cause serious damage to unborn children. Children born with this condition can have severe brain damage among other things. Most children in the UK are vaccinated against Rubella during their routine childhood immunisation programme, but depending on your age, school and health care you may not have had this. The best way to discover if you have been vaccinated against Rubella is to have a blood test, which your GP can carry out. All women should be immunised against Rubella immediately after the birth of their child if they have not already been vaccinated. This means that if you have already had one child, the likelihood that you are vaccinated is very high.