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Evaluation of Novel H1N1 Influenza A Virus Infection and Vaccine Effectiveness among Pregnant Women


When the vaccine against the novel influenza A virus (nH1N1) first became available in the fall of 2009, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directed that the first group to receive the new vaccine would be pregnant women, because they were especially vulnerable. Not only had otherwise healthy young pregnant women died from the infection, but some evidence also suggested that young children whose mothers had contracted the virus and recovered from it during pregnancy were more likely to develop serious health problems of their own.

Abt Global used a combination of prospective population-based study designs in the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 flu seasons to estimate assess vaccine effectiveness in pregnant women. Additionally, the large cohort study in the first year of the study afforded the opportunity to study many other aspects of flu morbidity, including how the flu virus itself affects pregnant women and their developing fetuses and any effect of antiviral treatment on the course of nH1N1 and associated health outcomes in both the mother and infant.
 
Read more about this research:
Safety of Influenza Vaccination during Pregnancy: A Review of Subsequent Maternal Obstetric Events and Findings from Two Recent Cohort Studies. Vaccine, Naleway, A., Irving, S., Henninger, M., Li, D., Shifflett, P., Ball, S., Gee, J. Vaccine, (2014).
 
The Pregnancy and Influenza Project: Design of an Observational Case-Cohort Study to Evaluate Influenza Burden and Vaccine Effectiveness among Pregnant Women and their Infants. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Thompson, M., Williams, J., Naleway, A., Li, D.K., Chu, S., Bozeman, S., Hill, H.A., Cragan, J., & Shay, D.K. (2011).
 
Effectiveness of seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine for preventing influenza virus illness among pregnant women: a population-based case-control study during the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 influenza seasons. Clinical Infectious Diseases,Thompson, M.G., Li, D.K., Shifflett, P., Sokolow, L.Z., Ferber, J.R., Kurosky, S., Bozeman, S., Reynolds, S.B., Odouli, R., Henninger, M.L., Kauffman, T.L., Avalos, L.A., Ball, S., Williams, J.L., Irving, S.A., Shay, D.K., & Naleway, A.L. (2014). 
Regions
North America