The Swine Flu Vaccination During Pregnancy

Firstly, let me state for the record that I am not a doctor or scientist, so please read the official advice carefully.

However, as expectant parents there is a dilemma about whether my wife, now at 30+ weeks, should have the swine flu vaccination. Our consultant said that the official advice he must relay to us is that it is recommended that pregnant women should have the vaccination. He also said, as an unofficial aside, that there had been little medical research done on the effects of the vaccination on pregnancy. This stands to reason - most of these vaccinations have been hurried to market and there has been little time to do the usual studies, specifically on pregnancy.

So it put us in a dilemma. My wife, being ultra-conservative when it comes to her health and that of our unborn child, was erring on the side of not having the vaccination.

The dilemma was solved last night when we went out for an annual Christmas dinner with some friends, one of whom happens to be one of the country's leading virologists, Professor Jim Robertson. Jim and his wife, Lynn, are good friends of ours and he is often the unassuming man with a great sense of humour who quietly chats about anything, rarely ever blowing his own trumpet about his expertise. In fact, his pet subject last night was that his daughter is also pregnant and is expecting in early February - he is so proud about being a grandad. I suppose one of the few advantages of being an older dad is that I am more likely to have friends like Jim - I am not sure that is a compliment for Jim!

Now, what I am writing was his answer to my wife's question and I should caveat that all pregnant women should seek the advice of their mid-wife, GP and consultant and take this as just my personal comments. It should also be noted that I referenced Jim without his permission and therefore he is in no way liable for the advice.

Right, with all that off my chest, Jim's answer was that my wife should have the vaccination but he took pains to point out that little research had been done in the area of affects on pregnant women. With that in mind, his answer was that there are various forms of the vaccination and some act to suppress the immune system, which is something that should be avoided in pregnant women. One vaccination that he knows does not work in this way is the Celvapan jab by Baxter. The UK Government has approved two vaccinations, and this is one of them. You would need to request this specifically.

If you Google Baxter's swine flu jab there is a bizarre reference to a conspiracy theory about swine flu being a man-made phenomenon and that Baxter are in the middle of it. If you are that way minded it's a good read - if you speak to a scientist they will have a laugh. However, Baxter seem to be embroiled in some scandal involving avian flu and the Czech Republic allegedly turned down the vaccine on safety grounds which appear to be associated with that. More recently, Baxter have been involved in paying back money for over-charging for medicines, but I don't think any particular pharmaceutical company has an unblemished past on such matters.

I suppose we could read every detail on the subject, but for my wife and I, Jim's word on the subject was more than good enough as he is a personal friend as well as being a boffin. Of course, he also recommended the same for his daughter and she has already been vaccinated.