Pregnancy and Vaccination

Information for pregnant women

Vaccines help protect you and your baby against serious diseases.

You probably know that when you are 

pregnant, you share everything with your 

baby. That means when you get vaccines, 

you aren’t just protecting yourself—you are 

giving your baby some early protection too. 

You should get a flu shot and whooping 

cough vaccine (also called Tdap) during 

each pregnancy to help protect yourself 

and your baby.

Whooping Cough Vaccine

Whooping cough (or pertussis) can be serious 

for anyone, but for your newborn, it can be lifethreatening. Up to 20 babies die each year in the 

United States due to whooping cough. About half of 

babies younger than 1 year old who get whooping 

cough need treatment in the hospital. The younger 

the baby is when he or she gets whooping cough, 

the more likely he or she will need to be treated in a 

hospital. It may be hard for you to know if your baby 

has whooping cough because many babies with 

this disease don’t cough at all. Instead, it can cause 

them to stop breathing and turn blue. 

When you get the whooping cough vaccine during 

your pregnancy, your body will create protective 

antibodies and pass some of them to your baby 

before birth. These antibodies will provide your 

baby some short-term, early protection against 

whooping cough. 

Learn more at www.cdc.gov/pertussis/pregnant/.

Flu Vaccine

Changes in your immune, heart, and lung functions 

during pregnancy make you more likely to get 

seriously ill from the flu. Catching the flu also 

increases your chances for serious problems for your 

developing baby, including premature labor and 

delivery. Get the flu shot if you are pregnant during 

flu season—it’s the best way to protect yourself and 

your baby for several months after birth from flurelated complications.

Flu seasons vary in their timing from season to 

season, but CDC recommends getting vaccinated 

by the end of October, if possible. This timing helps 

protect you before flu activity begins to increase. 

Find more on how to prevent the flu by visiting 

www.cdc.gov/flu/.

Last Updated September, 2016
Pregnancy and Vaccination

Keep Protecting Your Baby after Pregnancy

Your ob-gyn or midwife may recommend you receive 

some vaccines right after giving birth. Postpartum 

vaccination will help protect you from getting sick 

and you will pass some antibodies to your baby 

through your breastmilk. Vaccination after pregnancy 

is especially important if you did not receive certain 

vaccines before or during your pregnancy.

Your baby will also start to get his or her own vaccines 

to protect against serious childhood diseases. You can 

learn more about CDC’s recommended immunization 

schedule for children and the diseases vaccines can 

prevent at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/.

Keep in mind that many diseases 

rarely seen in the United States 

are still common in other parts of 

the world. Talk to your ob-gyn or 

midwife about vaccines if you are 

planning international travel during 

your pregnancy. More information 

is available at www.cdc.gov/travel/.

Even before becoming pregnant, make 

sure you are up to date on all your 

vaccines. This will help protect you and 

your child from serious diseases. For 

example, rubella is a contagious disease 

that can be very dangerous if you get 

it while you are pregnant. In fact, it can 

cause a miscarriage or serious birth 

defects. The best protection against 

rubella is MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) 

vaccine, but if you aren’t up to date, 

you’ll need it before you get pregnant.

Talk to your ob-gyn or midwife 

about maternal vaccines and visit: 

www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pregnancy/

CS HCVG15-MAT-107 09/27/2016