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Before you become pregnant, learn how to protect yourself and your child from serious diseases. Talk to your healthcare professional to make sure you're up to date on all your vaccines.
It's important to keep an accurate record of your vaccinations. Sharing this information with your pre-conception and prenatal healthcare professionals will help determine which vaccines you'll need before and during pregnancy. If you or your healthcare professionals do not have a current record of your vaccinations, you can:
Even before becoming pregnant, make sure you are up to date on all your vaccines. Being up to date will help protect you and your child from serious, preventable diseases. For example, rubella is a contagious disease that can be dangerous if you get it while you are pregnant. It can cause a miscarriage or serious birth defects.
The best protection against rubella is the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine. If you aren't up to date with the MMR vaccine, you'll need it before you get pregnant. Make sure you have a pre-pregnancy blood test to see if you are immune to the disease. Most women were vaccinated with the MMR vaccine as children but confirm with your doctor or other healthcare professional.
Avoid becoming pregnant until one month after receiving the MMR vaccine and your immunity is confirmed by a blood test.
