As I said previously, preparing for pregnancy should begin from the childhood. I am not saying that you should put in your little girls mind about getting pregnant. I am saying that if you have a little girl, you should provide her with the optimum care. It is essential for her future life, whether she gets pregnant or not. It is important for her to have a healthy and bright future.
Let’s get back to our main topic. What are the vaccines that are important in pregnancy? The first vaccine given for girls to prevent congenital abnormalities of her children is Rubella vaccine. It is a live attenuated vaccine. Now many countries have included this vaccine in their vaccination programs.
If you have any query, just leave it on comments, I am always looking forward to answer them all.
Most of the countries give the vaccine for both girls and boys before their puberty. Some developing countries give in only for boys. Now you might thing why it is given for boys. It is to prevent transmission. If the boys are not vaccine, they can transmit the virus to girls.
All the women in reproductive age group are given the vaccine. So, if you have not taken the vaccine, you should have it before you get pregnant, because Rubella infection during pregnancy creates severe congenital abnormalities in the fetus. It is advised that you do not get pregnant until 3 months after vaccination, but the very few mothers, who have got the vaccine while they are pregnant, have not shown any congenital abnormalities.
Another congenital infection, which can be prevented by vaccination, is Hepatitis B virus infection. It is given for those who are high risk of acquiring the virus, like doctors, and nurses. Even you have not taking the vaccine, you can prevent from its infection by practicing hygienic methods, and by taking precautions when dealing with blood and blood products.
Chicken fox vaccine is another important vaccine that you should take before you get pregnant, if you have not got the infection in your childhood. If you get this infection while you are pregnant, it can be detrimental for both the fetus and the mother.
I just found out from my doc that my blood work shows that I am not immune to Rubella. I was vaccinated as a child, how is that possible. How concerned should I be? I am 8 weeks today.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible that some people would not develop immunity against Rubella even though they are exposed to the virus or vaccinated before. This could be due to lack of immune response.
ReplyDeleteif you get the virus within up to 13 weeks of pregnancy there is a very high risk that your baby get affected. Therefore you should be very careful not to acquire the virus. Since the virus is transmitted through air, you should not hang around people who are suspected to have Rubella.
Yes it is very hard to recognize a person infected with rubella. Therefore the best thing to do is avoid crowd.
After the 13-16 week of pregnancy, the chances of the baby to get affected is very low. Therefore be careful in the first few months.
With all that in mind, Rubella is a rare disease in many countries due to extended programs of immunization. If your country's immunization coverage is good it is a good news for mothers like you.