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Pregnant mothers are now advised to have a seasonal flu immunization as an advance protection for their newborn child, a new study has pointed out. According to Medical New Today, the flu shot cuts down the chance of infants acquiring influenza. A newborn is recommended to have a flu vaccine when they reach six months.

Julie H. Shakib, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine who spearheaded the explained, "Babies cannot be immunized during their first 6 months, so they must rely on others for protection from the flu during that time. When pregnant women get the flu vaccine there are clear benefits for their infants." She added, "When pregnant women get the flu vaccine there are clear benefits for their infants."

Shakib and her colleagues gathered a health registry involving 245,000 pregnant women all taken from nine flu seasons from December 2005 to March 2014. The data also involved their respective infants which amounted to 249,000. They became aware that a low rate of only 10 percent of the pregnant mothers had a flu shot while the remaining 90 percent did not receive any vaccine. For that span of nine years, 658 of the infants with the age 6 months and younger acquired the laboratory-confirmed flu.

These significant findings were published in the Journal Pediatrics and are an added help to promote the prospect of having a hospital admission due to serious complications from the flu. The researchers gave emphasis that a protective mechanisms aids in the immunity of the unborn child which is the placenta as immunization of the mother and others who are involved with the baby put a stop in the distribution of flu due to "cocooning."

In related news, Telegraph recently reported that a flu shot will have more efficiency if it is given between the hours of 9 am and 11 am as it will boost the antibodies four times more compared to those who have it administered in the afternoon.