Hi Debbie, congratulations as recertified LC, hope I will do as well next
year!
About antrax I recently received the following information:
Joel Rogers of the Emergency Response System of the CDC (phone 404-639-2283):
anthrax is not transmitted from person to person - and that includes
breastfeeding. He said that the anthrax vaccine should not be administered to
pregnant women.  When given to breastfeeding mothers, there is no harm to the
baby. The CDC website (www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr4915a1.htm)
states: "No data suggest increased risk for side effects or temporally
related adverse events associated with receipt of anthrax vaccine by
breast-feeding women or breast-fed children. Administration of nonlive
vaccines (e.g., anthrax vaccine) during breast-feeding is not medically
contraindicated."

Information about the anthrax vaccine can also be found in "Medications and
Mothers' Milk" (Hale, 2000, p.52). "The vaccine should only be administered
to healthy men and women from 18 to 65 years of age since investigations to
date have been conducted exclusively in that population. Because it is not
known whether the anthrax vaccine can cause fetal harm, pregnant women should
not be vaccinated. There are no data or indications relative to its use in
breastfeeding mothers. While it consists primarily of protein fragments of
anthrax bacteria, it is very unlikely any would transfer into milk, nor even
be bioavailable in the infant."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gonneke van Veldhuizen, IBCLC
MOM, LLLL, primary schoolteacher
Hiilensberg, Germany

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