Effectiveness of maternal immunization with trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in pregnant women and their infants

BACKGROUND: In randomized trials, it has been found that maternal influenza vaccination reduces influenza infections in both women and their infants. However, these trials have been performed in low-resource settings, and evidence from high-resource settings is limited.

METHODS: Nested within a register-based cohort of all women giving birth in Denmark between 2010 and 2016 (n = 357 810 births), we conducted two case-control studies using a test-negative design of all pregnant women and their infants, respectively, tested for influenza virus with reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Influenza virus-positive cases were matched (1:1) with influenza virus-negative controls for calendar time and (gestational or infant) age at testing. The effectiveness of maternal immunization with trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine was estimated from the odds ratios of vaccination among cases versus controls using logistic regression with adjustment for potential confounders.

RESULTS: Among 313 pregnant women positive for influenza virus, 16 (5.1%) were vaccinated; by comparison, 34 (10.9%) pregnant women were vaccinated among 313 matched influenza virus-negative controls. The effectiveness of vaccination against laboratory-confirmed influenza infection in pregnant women was 63.9% [95% confidence interval (CI), 29.1 to 81.6]. Among 460 infants positive for influenza virus, 23 (5.0%) were offspring of women vaccinated during pregnancy; by comparison, 52 (11.3%) infants were the offspring of women vaccinated during pregnancy among 460 matched influenza virus-negative controls. The effectiveness of maternal vaccination against laboratory-confirmed influenza infection in infants younger than 6 months of age was 56.8% (95% CI, 25.0 to 75.1).

CONCLUSIONS: Seasonal trivalent inactivated influenza vaccination in pregnancy was associated with a statistically significant reduced risk of laboratory-confirmed influenza infections in pregnant women and their infants in a high-resource setting.