Influenza vaccination coverage among pregnant women: Experience from two influenza seasons 2009-2011

Background: Studies have demonstrated that influenza vaccination during pregnancy reduces the risk of influenza-related illness among pregnant women and their infants up to 6 months of age. We examined influenza vaccination coverage among women who delivered a live-born infant during two consecutive influenza seasons, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. Methods: Pregnancy Risk Assessment and Monitoring System (PRAMS) data from 29 states and New York City (NYC) were used to examine seasonal (n=27,153) and influenza A(H1N1) pdm09 (pH1N1) (n=27,372) vaccination uptake for the 2009-2010 season, and data from 21 states and NYC were examined (n=18,522) for the 2010-2011 season, among women who delivered a live-born infant during September through May. SUDAAN 10.0 was used for analysis to account for the complex survey design. Results: PRAMS data show that median coverage for seasonal vaccination in the 2009-2010 season was 45.3% and was 38.8% for pH1N1 vaccine. For states with data available for both seasons, the median seasonal coverage increased from 51.2% in 2009-2010 to 54.8% in 2010-2011; the increase varied by state and significant gains were seen for non-Hispanic blacks, non-Hispanic whites, and Hispanics, those aged 25-34 years; and those on Medicaid. In addition, advice/offer of vaccination from providers increased from 69.4% to 72.0%, indicating that more providers were advising their clients to get vaccinated. Conclusions: To meet the Healthy People 2020 objective of 80% coverage for pregnant women, concerted sustained efforts to promote influenza vaccination uptake during pregnancy will be needed to continue the gains made in vaccination coverage during 2009-2011.