Flu Shots: Yale Study Says Mothers Who've Had Flu Shots Have Healthier Newborns

A study published last week in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases finds that infants born to women who received a flu shot while pregnant were at lower risk for hospitalization due to influenza.

What does this mean? Essentially, a mother's choice to receive a flu immunization protects her baby. There is no vaccine in the USA approved by the FDA for use in children under 6 months of age - but a flu shot given to a pregnant mother may protect a baby for a year. Statistically speaking, "The effectiveness of influenza vaccine given to mothers during pregnancy in preventing hospitalization among their infants, adjusted for potential confounders, was 91.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 61.7%–98.1%; ) for infants aged less than 6 months."

Abstract and full text available here.