A CDC study published in JAMA Pediatrics shows that infants younger than 6 months born to people who were vaccinated during their pregnancy were protected from flu-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Infants are at higher risk of being hospitalized compared to other children but cannot get a flu shot until they turn 6 months. The study underscores the importance of pregnant people getting vaccinated since both pregnant people and their infants are at higher risk of being hospitalized with flu.

The study looked at data from the New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN) from the 2016-2017 through the 2019-2020 flu seasons and found that:

• Flu vaccination during pregnancy reduced the risk of flu in infants younger than 6 months by one-third.
• Protection was greatest among infants younger than 3 months, reducing the risk of flu-related hospitalizations or emergency department visits by half.
• Maternal vaccine effectiveness increased with the severity of infant disease, reducing the risk in infants of emergency department visits by about 20 percent and reducing the risk of hospitalization by about 40 percent.
• Maternal vaccine effectiveness was higher in infants born to mothers vaccinated later during their pregnancy.

Flu vaccination among pregnant people is concerningly low and has fallen by 10 to 15 percentage points since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CDC data systems. Talk to your health care provider about getting a flu vaccine while pregnant. You can use Vaccines.gov to find a flu vaccine.