vaccination during pregnancy
If you are planning a pregnancy or are already pregnant, you should make sure that you have sufficient vaccination protection. This not only protects you, but also your unborn child from pathogens. In this article you will find out which vaccinations you should get before pregnancy and which vaccinations you can catch up on if you are pregnant.
Vaccination as part of pregnancy planning
If a pregnancy is deliberately planned, all important vaccinations should be checked again at least three months before the start of the pregnancy and refreshed if necessary. Vaccinations against measles, mumps, rubella , chickenpox, whooping cough and tetanus are particularly important. These infectious diseases can endanger not only the mother but also the child during pregnancy . The pathogens can infect the fetus, causing severe birth defects and developmental defects. This can be avoided by early vaccination before pregnancy.
If the mother has formed antibodies against the various pathogens before pregnancy, this still has a positive effect on the child after birth: the mother’s antibodies are transferred to the newborn as so-called nest protection and ensure immunity against the newborn in its first months of life relevant infectious diseases.
Vaccination during pregnancy?
Vaccination is generally not recommended in the first trimester of pregnancy, as organ development in the fetus takes place during this time. Side effects of individual vaccines could possibly have a negative impact on them and should therefore be ruled out if possible by completely dispensing with vaccinations. The safety of a vaccination in the further course of pregnancy depends primarily on the vaccine used and the type of vaccination .
Vaccination during pregnancy with live vaccines
Although weakened, live vaccines still contain viable components of pathogens. If injected during pregnancy, these could enter the unborn child via the placenta and cause serious developmental damage, similar to the disease itself. Live vaccines should be avoided during the entire pregnancy in order to rule out the possibility of malformations in the child or even a miscarriage as a result of a vaccine reaction.
The mother’s immune system is also under greater stress during pregnancy. Vaccination with a live vaccine could therefore lead to infection with a so-called vaccine disease. Symptoms that develop after vaccination are similar to those of the disease against which the vaccination was actually intended to protect. Such a vaccine disease not only weakens the mother, but, just like the actual disease, harbors the risk of malformations in the fetus.
Live vaccines are used to vaccinate against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, for example, which is why immunization against these infectious diseases before pregnancy is particularly important.
Passive vaccination during pregnancy
Should an infection with one of the diseases mentioned occur during pregnancy, the outbreak can be counteracted with so-called immunoglobulins. For this purpose, a so-called passive vaccine is administered to those affected, which already contains suitable antibodies against the corresponding pathogens and can thus intercept them before they spread in the blood. These passive vaccinations are also harmless during pregnancy and are often the only way to avert developmental damage in the child.
Vaccination during pregnancy with inactivated vaccines
In contrast to live vaccines, dead vaccines no longer contain any viable components of pathogens. They cannot therefore cause any vaccine diseases and can usually also be used during pregnancy. However, with some vaccines, such as that against rabies, it is not known exactly whether, and if so what effect the vaccine serum has on the development of the unborn child. For this reason, the use of inactivated vaccines during pregnancy is only recommended after careful consultation with the doctor treating you.
Consultation before each vaccination during pregnancy
In general, during pregnancy you should discuss every vaccination in detail with your doctor. He should explain to you in detail about possible risks and special complications that a vaccination in a pregnant woman could entail. The final decision as to when vaccination is necessary or safe can only be made on a case-by-case basis and should only be made after careful consideration of the risk-benefit ratio.