November 12, 2010 — There have been no unusual complications among pregnant women who received the flu vaccine in the past 20 years, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study <http://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(10)01105-1/abstract> that adds to evidence that the vaccine is safe during pregnancy, Reuters <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AA5P620101111> reports. Public health officials and medical groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists <http://www.acog.org/> , recommend pregnant women receive the injection flu vaccine, rather than the nasal spray version, which is made from a live, weakened virus. CDC researchers examined data from the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System <http://vaers.hhs.gov/index> and found 175 reports of possibly vaccine-related medical complications among pregnant women from 1990 through 2009. The number equates to an estimated rate of 12.5 reported complications per one million pregnant women vaccinated.
There were some reports of miscarriage and still births, but the rates were significantly lower than averages for those events among the general population. Eighty-eight percent of reported complications were considered "non-serious," such as skin reactions at the injection site, fatigue or fever, and mild allergic reactions. Twenty-seven of the reports were from pregnant women who inadvertently received the nasal-spray vaccine between 2003 and 2009 (Norton, Reuters, 11/11).