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Pregnant women are at excess risk for influenza-associated death; in addition, neonates benefit from passive immunization that accompanies maternal vaccination. Still, vaccination rates during pregnancy are abysmally low, partly because of misconceptions about risks during early pregnancy. Investigators in a large healthcare system in Texas conducted a retrospective cohort study spanning five consecutive flu seasons (October 2003–March 2008) in which they evaluated outcomes in neonates of women who received influenza vaccines during pregnancy compared with those of unvaccinated women.
Approximately 10% of the 84,000 pregnant women studied received influenza vaccine. Immunized women were more likely to be older than 35, to be multiparous, and…