The official death toll from h1n1 flu and its complications among pregnant women as of Oct 10 is at least 28, Washington Post reported citing official data.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention never says whether these women had had any underlying health conditions. Because this information has never been released, it’s safe to assume that at least most pregnant women had medical conditions. If that is not the case, the CDC would be every happy to tell everyone that at least most of the victims were healthy. This can help promote the national vaccination campaign.
Anyway, there is very tiny risk for CERTAIN pregnant women. But I do not believe that every woman is at the same risk. Logically those who have health conditions that compromise their immunity should be at higher risk. Medical experts would love to tell you that pregnant women at higher risk because their immune systems are slow in responding to h1n1 virus and other types of flu and therefore they are more likely than others to have severe complications. That may be true, but still cannot explain why one pregnant woman died while another one didn’t.
The CDC says that getting vaccinated is the best way to prevent h1n1. But a few things that the health agency does not tell you is that no trial has been completed just yet that involved pregnant women. In other words, the safety and efficacy of any of the four approved h1n1 vaccines in pregnant women remains unknown. The government and its officials only say h1n1 vaccines are made in the same way as the seasonal flu vaccine is and they expect that the h1n1 vaccine is as safe and effective.
To say the least, the efficacy of seasonal flu vaccine is not that great and seldom exceeds 45 percent because often times the dead or live yet attenuated virus used in the vaccine does not match the circulating strain well. That is why many people who get vaccinated against seasonal flu still get it anyway.
Pregnant women may have another reason to worry about vaccination. There is no hard evidence to demonstrate that the h1n1 vaccine is safe for fetuses. One thing that potentially affects neurological development in the fetus and deserves pregnant women’s attention is that mercury is present in the h1n1 vaccine that comes from the 10-dose pack. Of course, it’s always official that mercury in vaccines is safe even though many are not convinced…read more here..
