Once you’ve watched the module, access a printable quiz to test your knowledge about addressing the common barriers to influenza vaccination. 

Influenza vaccines are recommended for pregnant women at any time in pregnancy.

Disease severity

Key barrier: 

• Many parents have the perception that influenza vaccination is not important.

Facts:

• Pregnant women who catch influenza are more than twice as likely as other adults to develop a serious complication and be admitted to hospital. 
• Babies, especially babies under the age of six months, are more at risk of developing serious complications from influenza and are more likely than other children to end up in hospital as a result.
• Deaths from influenza are highest among babies less than six months old, and most are previously healthy children.
   

Vaccine safety

Key barrier: 

• Many parents are concerned about the safety of vaccines in pregnancy.

Facts:

• Very few women (around three in every 1,000) experience a reaction serious enough to attend a hospital emergency department. Follow-up with those women indicated that all symptoms resolved and that both mother and baby were healthy. 
• Vaccination against influenza during pregnancy does not increase the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes such as stillbirth, premature delivery, or birth defects.
   

Vaccine effectiveness

Key barrier: 

• People aren’t sure that the influenza vaccine will really protect their baby.

Fact:

• Babies whose mothers had an influenza vaccine during pregnancy are more than 90 per cent less likely to be admitted to hospital with influenza in the first six months of life.