Baltimore, MD (AHN) - A new study has found that flu shots for pregnant women can help protect babies from the flu until six months of age.
There is currently no flu vaccine for babies under six-months-old, but babies in that age group are more likely to be hospitalized for the virus than any other age group.
While public health officials recommended the immunization for pregnant women for years, few mothers actually receive them, particularly in developing Asian countries.
Researchers from Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University carried out the study by administering flu shots to 340 pregnant women in Bangladesh. There was a 63 percent reduction in flu among babies whose mothers were given a flu shot and prevented about one in three respiratory illnesses in them and their mothers, according to the report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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