Abstract
Vaccinating pregnant women in order to protect them, the fetus, and the child has become universal in no way at all. Prejudice in health professionals add to fears of women and their families. Both these feelings are not supported by even the smallest scientific data. Harmlessness for the mother and the child has been observed for seasonal, pandemic, or quadrivalent influenza, mono, combined polysaccharide or conjugated meningococcal or pneumococcal, tetanus toxoid, acellular pertussis, human papillomavirus, cholera, hepatitis A, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, anthrax, smallpox, yellow fever, mumps, measles and rubella combined, typhoid fever, inactivated or attenuated polio vaccines, and Bacillus Calmétte Guerin vaccines. Instead, the beneficial effects of influenza vaccine for the mother and the child as well as of pertussis vaccine for the child have been demonstrated. Obstetrician-gynecologists, general practitioners, and midwives must incorporate vaccination into their standard clinical care. Strong communication strategies effective at reducing parental vaccine hesitancy and approval of regulatory agencies for use of vaccines during pregnancy are needed. It must be clear that the lack of pre-licensure studies in pregnant women and, consequently, the lack of a statement about the use of the vaccine in pregnant women does not preclude its use in pregnancy.
Highlights
It is time to clear the hesitancy if not the horror arousing in laymen, but regrettably in many health professionals, when immunizations are proposed to pregnant women
First: the safety of live vaccines in pregnancy is a convincing model of overall safety of immunization in pregnancy; second: these findings indicate that if a pregnant woman is inadvertently vaccinated, she should be counseled about the theoretical basis of concern for the fetus, but vaccination during pregnancy should not inevitably be a reason to consider termination of pregnancy
Obstetrician-gynecologists, general practitioners, and midwives, who already provide a large and valuable set of medical care to women, must incorporate vaccination into their standard clinical care. They must be convinced that vaccination in pregnant women has become an ineluctable preventive measure which protects the mother, the fetus, and the baby; recommendations of healthcare providers are the keystone which induces vaccine uptake; 2. in spite of the fact that physicians have a major influence on parental vaccine decision, physician-targeted communication intervention does not reduce maternal vaccine hesitancy or improve physician self-efficacy
Summary
It is time to clear the hesitancy (at the very best) if not the horror (in the worst case) arousing in laymen, but regrettably in many health professionals, when immunizations are proposed to pregnant women. Factors influencing vaccination acceptance have been excellently located [1]. Safety, need, effectiveness, or conflicting advice influence the laymen. Inadequate training, inadequate reimbursement, and increased workload influence health professionals. A mixture of defensive medicine, the ancient visceral distrust against any artificial interference in pregnancy, and the current increasing mistrust against vaccines in the industrialized world may contribute to the proscription. The protective effect in infants of maternal immunization during pregnancy was observed as early as 1879 when infants of mothers who had received the Jennerian vaccine during pregnancy resulted in their protection against smallpox [2]
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