If you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, the specific vaccines you need are determined by your age, lifestyle, medical conditions, travel, and previous vaccinations. Below are guidelines from the CDC regarding what vaccines are important during pregnancy, and what vaccines should be delayed until after birth.107
Did you know a baby gets disease immunity (protection) from the pregnant person during pregnancy? This immunity can protect baby from some diseases during the first few months of life, but immunity decreases over time, which is why it is essential that pregnant people are vaccinated against these three serious illnesses with EVERY pregnancy (as applicable):107
Click on each vaccine preventable disease recommended during pregnancy to learn more.
Whooping cough, known as pertussis, can be serious for anyone, but for a newborn, it can be life-threatening. It may be hard to know if a 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. Unfortunately, babies do not start building their own protection against whooping cough until they get vaccinated at two months old.108
Refer to General Vaccine Information Webpage, within this toolkit, for more knowledge regarding Whopping Cough.
When a pregnant person gets a whooping cough vaccine during pregnancy, the body will create protective antibodies and pass some of them to the baby before birth. These antibodies will provide the baby some short-term, early protection against whooping cough. CDC recommends getting a whooping cough vaccine during the 27th through 36th week of each pregnancy, preferably during the earlier part of this time period.108
Influenza (flu) is more likely to cause illness that results in hospitalization in pregnant people than in people of reproductive age who are not pregnant. Flu also may be harmful for a pregnant person’s developing baby. A common flu symptom is fever, which has been associated in some studies with neural tube defects and other adverse outcomes for a developing baby.109
Refer to General Vaccine Information Webpage, within this toolkit, for more knowledge regarding Influenza.
Pregnant people who get a flu shot also are helping to protect their babies from flu illness for the first several months after their birth, when they are too young to get vaccinated. Due to the dynamic nature of the flu season, the timing can be tricky for pregnant people, however the CDC recommends that most pregnant people receive the flu vaccine during the current flu season in which they are pregnant. The flu vaccine is safe during pregnancy and can be given during any trimester.109
Pregnant people with COVID-19 illness during pregnancy are more likely to experience complications that can affect their pregnancy and developing baby compared to people without COVID-19 during pregnancy. Studies show that having COVID-19 during pregnancy increases the risk of delivering a preterm (earlier than 37 weeks) or stillborn infant.110
Refer to General Vaccine Information Webpage, within this toolkit, for more knowledge regarding COVID-19.
COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or might become pregnant in the future. The CDC recommends that pregnant people should stay up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines, 110
Some vaccines, especially live vaccines (refer to General Vaccine Information: Types of Vaccine webpage within this toolkit) should not be given to pregnant people because they may be harmful to the baby. This does not mean the vaccine is unsafe, keep in mind that vaccine recommendation for pregnant people is developed with the HIGHEST safety concerns for both pregnant person and baby.106
Some vaccines are not recommended during pregnancy, such as106:
For more information, regarding vaccine education during pregnancy, please refer to the CDC.
