Can expectant mothers also be vaccinated against rabies?

Experts said that there is no need to worry too much about this. Pregnant women and lactating women can be vaccinated against rabies.

Yang Zhicong, deputy director of the Guangzhou Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that rabies vaccine for human use is highly safe; At the same time, because rabies is almost 100% fatal disease at present, pregnant or lactating women, newborns, infants, children, the elderly or people suffering from other diseases should be vaccinated as soon as possible after being bitten by animals, regardless of whether the injured animals are rabies animals.

Qualified vaccines will not affect the fetus.

Studies have shown that qualified rabies vaccine will not have adverse effects on the health of pregnant women, nor will it have an impact on the fetus.

First of all, rabies vaccine is an inactivated virus vaccine, and the inactivated virus cannot pass through the placental barrier and will not cause fetal abnormalities; Secondly, the rabies vaccines currently used in China are all cell culture vaccines, which have little side effects and good immune effect; Clinical verification data reported at home and abroad confirmed that no rabies vaccine caused abortion, premature delivery or teratogenesis. Therefore, once bitten by a dog or cat, whether before or during pregnancy, rabies vaccine should be injected in time, in the whole process and according to the routine.

Breast-feeding women can breastfeed after vaccination.

In addition, some special groups, such as lactating women, can continue breastfeeding after vaccination with rabies vaccine, which will not affect the normal development of babies.

Because the central nervous system and immune function of newborns and infants are not perfect, the risk of rabies after being bitten by mad dogs is greater than that of adults. Therefore, once it comes into contact with suspicious animals, it is necessary to treat the wounds in a timely and standardized manner, and immediately vaccinate rabies vaccine and inject passive immune agents if necessary. Children who are undergoing planned immunization can be vaccinated against rabies according to normal immunization procedures.

Experts said that it has not been found that the simultaneous use of rabies vaccine and other vaccines (including children's planned immunization vaccine) will affect the immune effect. During the period of rabies vaccination, other vaccines can also be vaccinated according to normal immunization procedures.

In view of the lethality of rabies, parents are advised to give priority to vaccinating their children against rabies.