Question

I am a breastfeeding mother and i want to know if it is safe to use Cholera Vaccine? Is Cholera Vaccine safe for nursing mother and child? Does Cholera Vaccine extracts into breast milk? Does Cholera Vaccine has any long term or short term side effects on infants? Can Cholera Vaccine influence milk supply or can Cholera Vaccine decrease milk supply in lactating mothers?

Answer by DrLact: About Cholera Vaccine usage in lactation

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several health professional organizations state that vaccines given to a nursing mother do not affect the safety of breastfeeding for mothers or infants and that breastfeeding is not a contraindication to cholera vaccine. Breastfed infants should be vaccinated according to the routine recommended schedules.[1][2][3]

Cholera Vaccine Side Effects in Breastfeeding

Limited data indicate that breastfeeding can enhance the response of the infant to certain vaccine antigens.[1][3][4] Administration of injectable cholera vaccine increases milk secretory IgA antibodies against cholera in the breastmilk in some reports.[5][6] Oral cholera vaccines result in a much lower increase in breastmilk anticholera antibodies. [7][8] However administration of oral cholera vaccine to the mother decreased the risk of cholera in their breastfed infants by 47% in one study. The authors hypothesized that vaccination of the mothers reduced their transmission of cholera to their infants.[8] An open-label study in Bangladesh compared the serum immune response to administration of an oral cholera vaccine (Dukoral; containing killed cholera organisms and cholera subunit B) found that withholding breastfeeding for 3 hours before giving the vaccine resulted in a greater antibody response in infants between 10 and 18 months of age. In infants between 6 and 9 months of age, no difference in antibody response was seen between infants who had breastfeeding withheld and those who did not.[9]
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