Hospitalized infants of vaccinated mothers were about 50% less likely to have the flu than hospitalized infants of unvaccinated mothers.
The current recommendation for influenza vaccination is to offer the vaccine to all children older than 6 months and to pregnant women. Some data suggest that maternal vaccination during pregnancy reduces the risk for influenza in infants younger than 6 months. Investigators examined this effect using data from a population-based surveillance program of hospitalized children with laboratory-confirmed influenza in three U.S. counties from 2002 through 2009.
During the study period, 1510 eligible infants younger than 6 months were hospitalized with fever, respiratory symptoms, or both, and 151 (10%) had laboratory-confirmed influenza infection. A total of 295 mothers (19%) reported that they had received the influenza vaccine during their preg…