Question

Pregnant women are not advised to have certain vaccinations such as MMR, chicken pox etc., while some vaccinations such as DPT are considered to be harmless. Give reasons.​

Answer 1

• MMR and chickenpox vaccines contain live attenuated germs, hence there is a risk of pathogens crossing the placenta and resulting in infection of foetus. ​

• Whereas DPT vaccine is made from toxoids, inactive toxic substances extracted from pathogens, hence the risk of foetus getting infected is low. ​

• Therefore, pregnant women are advised not to have vaccines containing live pathogens whereas the vaccines containing killed pathogens/toxoids are safe.