XProtect Your Baby Before Birth
Vaccination during pregnancy is one of the most powerful ways to safeguard your newborn. The antibodies you produce cross the placenta and protect your baby during their most vulnerable first 6 months of life.
How Maternal Vaccination Protects Your Baby
When you receive a vaccine during pregnancy, your body produces antibodies that cross the placenta through the Fc receptor, providing your newborn with passive immunity during their first 6 months when they are most vulnerable to infection.
Vaccination
You receive the vaccine during the recommended gestational period. Your immune system begins producing protective antibodies within 2-4 weeks.
Antibody Transfer
The antibodies cross the placenta via Fc receptors. It takes approximately 7-8 weeks from vaccination for antibodies to fully transfer to your baby.
Baby Protected
Your baby is born with protective antibodies that last for the first 6 months of life — the period when infants are most vulnerable to severe infections.
Timing is Critical
Gestational age at vaccination is very important. It takes 2-4 weeks for antibody production and 7-8 weeks for full transfer to the fetus. Postnatal antibody transfer through breast milk is much less effective.
Recommended Vaccines for Pregnant Women in Thailand
The Infectious Diseases Society of Thailand recommends four vaccines during pregnancy. All protect against respiratory infections that are easily transmitted and difficult to prevent.
Influenza
Flu Vaccine
Pregnant women infected with influenza experience more severe symptoms than non-pregnant women, with increased risks of hospitalization, ICU admission, death, stillbirth, and birth defects.
Risks Without Vaccination
Vaccine Effectiveness
Vaccination reduces severe infection in pregnant women by 72% and in infants during their first 6 months by 64.5%.
No increase in premature birth was observed. Disease severity depends more on the virus strain than gestational age. However, infection during early pregnancy with high body temperature increases risks of infant birth defects including cleft palate, cardiac defects, and open neural tube defects.
Thailand Vaccination Guidelines for Pregnant Women
The Infectious Diseases Society of Thailand provides clear guidelines on when to receive each vaccine during pregnancy.
Influenza & COVID-19
Both vaccines can be administered from 12 weeks of gestation onwards. For better infant protection, consider vaccination after 20 weeks.
More details
Multiple doses can be given during pregnancy, spaced at least 6 months apart. For high-risk groups, annual influenza vaccination is recommended.
Pertussis (Whooping Cough)
Recommended between 20-32 weeks of gestation for every pregnancy or at least 2-year intervals between doses.
More details
Three cases: (1) Never vaccinated against tetanus — receive Td dose 0,1, then Tdap at 20-32 weeks; (2) Tetanus vaccine >10 years ago — receive Tdap at 20-32 weeks; (3) Tetanus vaccine within 10 years — receive single pertussis vaccine at 20-32 weeks.
RSV
Recommended at 24-36 weeks gestation throughout the year. Optimal timing is 28-32 weeks.
More details
At least 5 weeks between vaccination and delivery is needed. If delivery occurs within 2 weeks of vaccination, the infant can receive monoclonal antibody instead. RSV vaccine and monoclonal antibody have similar efficacy (~70-75%).
Free Vaccines in Thailand
The following vaccines are included in Thailand's Essential Medicines List and provided free to pregnant women:
Self-Funded Vaccines
COVID-19 and RSV vaccines are not currently covered and must be self-funded, which remains a challenge for equitable access.
Understanding the Diseases
Each of these infections has different characteristics. Understanding them helps you appreciate why vaccination is important.
| Characteristic | Influenza | COVID-19 | Pertussis | RSV |
|---|
Frequently Asked Questions
Challenges for Vaccinating Pregnant Women
Safety & Efficacy
Each vaccine must be approved by the FDA and the national vaccination guideline committee. Rigorous safety and efficacy data are required before any vaccine is recommended for pregnant women.
Information Access
Disseminating accurate vaccine information to pregnant women and their families is essential for vaccine acceptance. Healthcare providers play a crucial role in educating and reassuring expectant mothers.
Vaccine Cost
While some vaccines are free in Thailand (tetanus-diphtheria, pertussis, influenza), COVID-19 and RSV vaccines require self-funding, which remains a significant barrier to equitable access.
Protect Two Lives With One Vaccine
Vaccines for pregnant women are important and necessary, they reduce the severity of infections in both pregnant women and newborns up to 6 months of age. All four recommended vaccines target respiratory infections that are easily transmitted and difficult to prevent. Vaccination during pregnancy can be seamlessly integrated into your regular antenatal care program.
Your Vaccination Checklist
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