Title: Vaccination in pregnancy

Biography:

Sarbjeet Sharma is a Clinical Microbiologist to the work of diagnostics for over 20 years, with keen focus on HIV and Tuberculosis. She has contributed many international and national publications and presentations, one of the latest being at ICAAC 2012, San Francisco, USA: “Comparative evaluation of Conventional techniques and Nested PCR in the diagnosis of Extra-pulmonary TB

Abstract

Globally in general & in resource poor countries  like India in particular, immunization during pregnancy is a vital and cost-effective strategy that significantly reduces maternal illness and improves fetal outcomes besides imparting initial protection to the neonate against vaccine preventable diseases and associated complications. While routine inactivated vaccines, bacterial vaccines & toxoids are recommended   to   pregnant women, all live vaccines should be avoided because of a theoretical risk to the developing fetus. There is need for increased awareness among people& enhanced government initiative for widespread implementation of vaccination in pregnancy.