The American Academy of Pediatrics, in a new report, approves the practice of so-called cocooning in order to protect new-born babies from diseases.
The practice involves vaccinating family members of babies who are too young to receive the vaccines themselves so that the diseases don’t have a chance to reach them. It has also been approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Canadian government recently declared that cocooning may prove to be impractically expensive.
"This program appears inefficient," said Dr. Danuta Skowronski, of the British Columbia Center for Disease Control in Vancouver. "In fact, the criteria for this to be successful are almost impossible. We're not saying that babies are not important -- of course they are -- but we have to be wise about how we use our finite resources."
The two main vaccines typically administered in cocooning guard against influenza, diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus. Babies receive the benefits of the vaccines through nursing from mothers who have received them.
The CDC recommends that expecting mothers get vaccinated late in their pregnancy, and that those expected to come into contact with the infant also get vaccinated.