Increasingly, pregnant women are heeding the warnings about the dangers of pertussis and getting vaccinated but the same does not appear to be happening with influenza protection.According to an Australian retrospective analysis, pertussis vaccination of pregnant women in Victoria increased from 38% in 2015 to 82% two years later. However, when they looked at rates of influenza vaccination the prevalence fluctuated according to the season but even so, the overall rate was only 39%.Looking first at the factors that appeared to influence whether a woman got vaccinated at all, the researchers found women who were older, who were having their first child, attended antenatal care earlier in the pregnancy and who were receiving GP-led care were more likely to receive immunisation (thumbs up for the GPs).On the negative side, the likelihood of vaccination was significantly lower in women born overseas, those who smoked during pregnancy and among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.Overall it appeared the more contact a pregnant woman had with the health system, especially if that contact was with health professionals who are well-versed in all things immunisation, ie GPs, the more likely it was that vaccination would be offered, accepted and delivered.The variation in coverage rates across different hospital-led organisations reflects the fact that immunisation for flu and pertussis has not yet become part of standard, best practice guidelines for routine antenatal care.“Fewer than half the respondents indicated that vaccines were always or usually administered during routine antenatal care,” they wrote.Following on from these general observations, researchers tried to determine why it was that vaccination coverage for pertussis rose so dramatically between 2015 and 2017, and why coverage for influenza prevention didn’t.“This may reflect continued promotion by state and national bodies of the importance of maternal pertussis vaccination, and increased awareness among pregnant women of the seriousness of pertussis in infants,” they said.By contrast, the researchers suggest that influenza is often believed to pose a greater health risk to the mother as opposed to the infant, and this along with concerns about the safety of the flu vaccine itself may, at least in part, explain the poor uptake of this vaccine.To improve this situation and increase rates of protection for Australian pregnant women and their children, the study authors had a number of recommendations.Most importantly they suggest we need to build vaccination against pertussis and influenza into the standard of care for all antenatal practices – be they hospital based, midwife-led or part of the GP antenatal shared care program. Basically we need to bring vaccination up and centre into our consciousness, so women get offered the vaccine and then ensure our systems have the capacity to be able to provide this vaccination as the opportunity arises.“Maternal vaccination should be embedded in all antenatal care pathways, and systems should be improved to increase the uptake of vaccination by pregnant women,” they conclude.Other recommendations included highlighting the benefits of vaccination to those groups of women most at risk such as women who smoke and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. But key to all the recommendations is making vaccination just part of routine care.As an accompanying editorial points out, “Embedding vaccination into standard pregnancy care, whether delivered by GPs, midwives or obstetricians, normalises the process, improves access to vaccination and reduces the risk of missing opportunities for vaccination.” 

References:

Rowe SL, Perrett KP, Morey R, Stephens N, Cowie BC, Nolan TM, et al. Influenza and pertussis vaccination of women during pregnancy in Victoria, 2015-2017. Med J Aust 2019 Jun 3; 210(10): 454-62. DOI: 10.5694/mja2.50125Marshall HS, Amirthalingam G. Protecting pregnant women and their newborn from life-threatening infections. Med J Aust 2019 Jun 3; 210(10): 445-6. DOI: 10.5694/mja2.50174