A study showing that the influenza vaccination of pregnant HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected women is safe and protects the women against confirmed influenza illness, has been published by researchers from Wits University and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
The study, listing the finding of the safety and efficacy of vaccination of pregnant women with influenza vaccine, is published in the 4 September 2014 edition of the prestigious scientific medical journal, The New England Journal for Medicine.
This landmark study, titled: Influenza vaccination of pregnant women and protection of their infants is the first randomised-controlled trial (i.e. the highest level of scientific evidence) globally to show that, besides it being safe for the influenza vaccination of pregnant HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected women, it also protects the young infants of vaccinated mothers against influenza illness.
The results from the study by Professor Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology at Wits University and Executive Director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, and his team are the first to show that influenza vaccination of pregnant women was associated with 50% protection against influenza illness in HIV-uninfected women and 70% protection in HIV-infected women.
