Pregnant this winter? Get winter strong by ensuring you are vaccinated.
Getting vaccinated helps to protect you and your baby from highly infectious diseases and as winter approaches, this includes seasonal illnesses like the flu.
Vaccines help your body’s natural defence system to develop protective antibodies to fight disease and produce longer term protection. Antibodies developed while pregnant pass to your unborn baby and help protect them in their first few months of life.
Get your free pregnancy vaccinations at one of our drop-in clinics next time you have your antenatal appointment. Our drop-in clinics are:
- Basildon Hospital Maternity Department – Tuesday and Friday, 9am to 5pm.
- Broomfield Hospital Maternity Department – Tuesday and Wednesday, 9am to 5pm
- Southend Hospital (2nd floor) – Tuesday and Friday 9am to 5pm.
Pop in, no need to book. Just look out for our signs.
We offer:
- Whooping cough: It’s important to have your whooping cough vaccination between 16 and 32 weeks pregnant. This highly infectious disease can be a very serious illness for babies under 1 year of age and if caught, most will be admitted to hospital.
- Flu: Can also be very serious for pregnant women and their babies. If you catch it you are more likely to need to go to hospital than a women who isn’t pregnant. Flu in un-born and new-born babies can lead to premature birth, low birth weight, still birth or even death in the first weeks of life.
What about COVID-19?
- COVID-19 is also circulating and when pregnant, you are at a higher risk of getting seriously ill and if you get it late in your pregnancy, you baby could also be at risk.
- Thousands of pregnant women have been safely vaccinated in the UK and worldwide.
- COVID-19 vaccinations are recommended for pregnant women by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).
- Getting vaccinated reduces the risk of having a stillbirth.
- There is no evidence COVID-19 vaccination increases the risk of miscarriage, pre-term birth or other complications in your pregnancy.
Don’t delay. Get your whooping cough, flu and COVID-19 vaccines.
For more information, speak to your midwife, one of our immunisation nurses or call 0300 790 0597.