A PREGNANT Swindon woman is urging other mums-to-be to have the swine flu jab to protect their unborn babies.

Kirsty Brain, of North Swindon, found out she was expecting at the height of the first wave of swine flu in May.

“I didn’t even think about the risk back then but the more information that comes out about swine flu the more important it has become to get vaccinated,” said the 33-year-old.

“I did not want to risk putting my baby or myself in danger unnecessarily. How would I feel if something did happen and I could have prevented it?”

The immune system is naturally suppressed during pregnancy, meaning expectant mums are four times more likely to contract colds and flu.

A pregnant woman who catches swine flu can potentially develop complications from pneumonia to dehydration, especially during mid to late pregnancy.

World Health Organization statistics show that seven to 10 per cent of all patients hospitilised due to swine flu are pregnant women in their second or third trimester and that pregnant women are 10 times more likely to need care in an intensive care unit compared with the general population.

To combat the risks all Swindon mums-to-be are being offered the Pandemrix or Celvapan vaccines, which have been licensed and approved by the European regulator.

Kirsty, communications officer for Swindon Primary Care Trust, initially had no intention of having the jab over concerns about the impact any side effects would have on her and her baby.

“When the flu vaccine programme was announced I was in two minds as to whether I should have the jab or not,” she said.

But Kirsty, whose baby boy is due in January, soon changed her mind.

“What came into my thoughts were the numbers of pregnant women who, if they do contract swine flu, actually end up in hospital,” she said.

Kirsty received her vaccination last week as one of Swindon’s high risk priority groups.

A survey of British GPs revealed that almost half of patients are turning down the swine flu vaccine.

Swindon doctor Sharon Shmueli said that “fewer than 25 per cent” of pregnant patients at her practice had chosen to be vaccinated.

While Dr Toby Davies, a GP in Tidworth, Wiltshire, said his practice had received its initial 500 doses last week, and was already running low.