1. Home>
2. Specialties>
3. Infectious Diseases>
4. Summary and Comment

Maternal Influenza Immunization Protects Infants

Inactivated influenza vaccine reduced respiratory illness in the infants of women who were immunized during pregnancy.

Influenza causes considerable morbidity and mortality among pregnant women and young infants, including neonates, worldwide. In the U.S., no vaccines are currently licensed for use in infants aged <6 months. Might vaccination of pregnant women protect their infants against influenza?

The Mother’s Gift project is an ongoing prospective, controlled, blinded trial of maternal immunization, conducted in Bangladesh and supported with government, industry, and private funds. As part of this study, 340 women in the third trimester of pregnancy were randomized to receive either an inactivated influenza vaccine or a pneumococcal (control) vaccine. The primary outcome in infants was the first episode of laboratory-confirmed influenza before age 24 weeks.

The rate of laboratory-confirmed influenza was significantly lower among influenza-vaccine–group infants than among control-group infants (4% vs. 10%); vaccine effectiveness was 63% (95% confidence interval, 5–85). In addition, influenza-vaccine–group infants had substantial reductions in the rates of respiratory illness with fever, clinic visits for such illness, and clinician testing for influenza (decreased by 29%, 42%, and 49%, respectively). Influenza-vaccine–group mothers showed a 36% reduction in the rate of respiratory illness with fever (95% CI, 4–57).

Comment: The benefits to both infants and mothers in this trial are striking and should provide strong impetus to adopt and expand vaccination programs among pregnant women.

— Larry M. Baddour, MD

Published in Journal Watch Infectious Diseases September 24, 2008

Citation(s):

Zaman K et al. Effectiveness of maternal influenza immunization in mothers and infants. N Engl J Med 2008 Sep 17; [e-pub ahead of print]. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa0708630)

2011 Top Stories