Pregnant? Congratulations! Don’t forget to get your flu shot.

Should a pregnant woman get a flu shot? It seems this question always raises a heated debate, but never among members of the healthcare community. Ask any OBGYN, public health administrator or the Centers for Disease Control and the answer is unequivocally - yes, all pregnant women should receive a flu shot. So why is there debate among the general populace?

Unfortunately, there are a few reasons. A general misunderstanding of scientific data, media misrepresentation of said data and straight-up deceit have led to a vulnerable population questioning a decision that should be straightforward.

Let’s take a look at the two most common reasons pregnant women are leary of receiving a flu shot:

Concern: Flu shots can cause miscarriages
In 2017, a study funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was published in the medical journal Vaccine that sought to identify if there was an increased risk of miscarriage among pregnant women who received the flu shot. While the conclusion clearly states “this study does not and cannot establish a causal relationship between repeated influenza vaccination and SAB [spontaneous abortion], but further research is warranted,” media outlets used some of the data to make attention-grabbing headlines. The misinterpretation led to many pregnant women fearing flu shots, especially in the first trimester of pregnancy, over concerns of miscarriage. As stated in the findings of the study, the research was limited to simply women who had flu shots and the number of miscarriages vs. live births. Most miscarriages in the study occured in the first 5-7 weeks of pregnancy. Eighty percent of miscarriages in the general population occur during the first trimester. There is simply no way to draw a correlation between flu shots and increased risk of miscarriage, which is what the conclusion of the study ultimately determined. Unfortunately, the data presented in the study, namely the number of miscarriages, was reported without context, causing panic among moms-to-be.

Concern: Vaccines (including the flu shot) can cause Autism in children
In 1998, Andrew Wakefield published a study in a British medical journal that stated the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine caused autism. His study looked at 12 children and caused a major disruption in the general population when it came to vaccinating children. An investigation ensued and the study was proven not only to be false, but fraudulent. Wakefield was paid a handsome sum to conduct the study by a lawyer looking to establish such a link for monetary gain. In the end, the journal retracted the paper, Wakefield was stripped of his license to practice medicine and over a dozen follow-up, reputable studies were conducted all concluding there was no link between vaccines and autism. The largest study of all time was published in 2019, with a sample population of over 660,000 children over the course of 11 years. No link was found between vaccines and autism diagnosis.

The bottom-line is that illness in pregnant women is known to cause complications and birth defects. Thus far, no such link has been made between vaccines, which protect women from illness, and complications in pregnancy. When choosing what is best for you, seek the counsel of medical professionals, not the internet.