ABSTRACT
Vaccines are a heterogeneous group of medicinal products administered to prevent or treat disease by induction of a specific immune response. Benefits to human health can be conferred to the vaccinated individual, to the larger community (“herd immunity”), and in the case of a pregnant woman, to the fetus. Vaccinating women of childbearing potential may do the following: (1) prevent infections that are a serious risk to maternal health during pregnancy (e.g., influenza), (2) prevent infections that cause birth defects (e.g., rubella), or (3) confer immunity to the infant (e.g., tetanus) (1). An example of a vaccine that has prevented birth defects is the rubella vaccine. A fetus exposed to rubella in the first trimester has an 85% chance of developing congenital rubella syndrome, which may include cardiovascular defects, deafness, microcephaly (abnormally small head), microphthalmia (abnormally small eyes), cataracts, glaucoma, retinopathy, mental retardation, growth retardation, motor impairment, an enlarged liver and spleen, and skin rash. The incidence of congenital rubella syndrome has decreased dramatically since the introduction of the rubella vaccine (2).
