(Video APTN)

New born Oscar Schipper is just days old (born 9th October 2009) and he might have been born with an inbuilt immunity against swine flu.

But he wasn't.            

That's because although his mother Amelia Schipper was diagnosed with swine flu about half way through her pregnancy, she didn't actually have it.

She and her husband were among many who were told to stay quarantined for fourteen days.

After tests and an agonising two week wait, Schipper discovered she had a different virus.

At the time she was relieved.

She says "it was very scary because of the fact that they (doctors) didn't have an awful lot on it at the time and as you can imagine being pregnant it just added to that anxiety".

But now Schipper realises that because she didn't have the right virus, neither she, or new born Oscar, have any protection from Swine flu.

Schipper believes women can't help but worry about the effect of antiviral drugs and she says her own experience has led her to wonder how many people are getting medicated for swine flu, regardless of whether they have it.

She was prescribed the drug Relenza, which does not pass into the bloodstream because it's inhaled.

It's prescribed to pregnant women because it reaches the throat and lungs and does not, doctors believe, reach significant levels in the placenta.

In Britain it's the first option to Tamiflu, another antiviral drug which is taken in tablet form and acts throughout the body.

Amelia Schipper realises in hindsight that it shouldn't have been prescribed Relenza, because she's an asthmatic and it put her at risk of an attack.

Luckly she wasn't adversely affected by the Relenza, which is also prohibited for use by people suffering chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

But neither Relenza, nor Tamiflu, would give her,��and her baby immunity against the virus.

Schipper and her husband Michael are now determined to ensure they take every step to prevent their children being infected.

The UK's national vaccine programme was finally launched at the University College Hospital (UCH) on Wednesday ( 21 October), amid a great fanfare.

Key health workers like doctors and nurses were the first to get their jabs and had to do so under the gaze of government ministers, officials and the flashes of waiting camera crews.

Patrick O'Brien is the UCH's consultant obstetrician as well as being a spokesman for Britain's Royal College of Obsteticians and Gynaecologists.

He's keen for his patients and for pregnant women in general to ensure they get vaccinated.

He says if a woman has antibodies against swine flu, these will cross the placenta into her baby so it has a degree of protection against swine flu when it's born.

That immunity will obviously continue to be transferred to the baby through breast milk.

O'Brien is mindful of the Schippers' experience.

He says although many pregnant women think they've had swine flu and have received anti virals like Tamiflu and Relenza, only around 10 or 15% have "genuinely" had it.

He urges "If you think you've had swine flu, if you haven't had the test to prove it, we would still advise that you have the vaccination when it becomes available."

The UK Department of Health hopes to vaccinate more than eleven million of the most vulnerable people over the coming weeks.

As well as pregnant women, those getting the vaccine will include people with underlying conditions such as HIV, cancer and heart disease.

Australia, France, China and the US have already begun their swine flu vaccination campaigns.

The medical profession is keen to stress the importance expectant mothers should attach to ensuring they get the vaccine as soon as possible.

In England, swine flu cases are doubling about every two weeks and the health service believes there are now about 27,000 new cases.

Britain has ordered enough vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Baxter International to cover its population of about 60 million.

Most of it is coming from GlaxoSmithKline, whose one-dose swine flu vaccine contains an adjuvant, that's a chemical compound used to boost the immune system.

These are common in European flu vaccines, but there's limited information on how safe they are in children and pregnant women.

Some countries are buying special stocks of vaccines without adjuvants for groups like pregnant women.

In Britain, pregnant women will be offered the Glaxo vaccine first because supplies of Baxter's two-shot vaccine haven't arrived yet.

Baxter's vaccine doesn't have an adjuvant.

But it's a calculated wait as even after the injection it can take a fortnight to develop swine flu immunity.

O'Brien says the drugs can't be trialled in the normal way because flu drugs are always responding to the strains of virus around at the time.

He says "these vaccines have gone through the rapid testing stage which is the same as the seasonal flu every year".

According to O'Brien "the molecular structure of this vaccine is very very similar to the structure of the bird flu vaccine and we have a lot of experience with that in pregnancy".

He insists "so as far as we can ever tell this vaccine appears to be safe in pregnancy and I would certainly advise pregnant women to have it."

When it comes to getting a vaccine, Schipper is no longer the highest priority because she is no longer pregnant.

Until this family can get the vaccine, they say they're still uncertain as to how they can protect their little ones.

Swine flu is striking children and young adults disproportionately.

According to America's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, those under 25 account for more than half of swine flu hospital admissions, and nearly a quarter of all deaths.

Michael Schipper says sixteen month old Zac could go to nursery, but they're concerned about the risk this would pose to him and Oscar.

Amelia Schipper will still be able to pass on swine flu immunity to Oscar once she's had the vaccination.

But this is dependent on her being able to continue breast feeding and while antibodies will be passed through the breast milk, it'll still take little Oscar a few weeks to develop a resistance to the virus.

The Schipper's won't be the only ones employing a cautious wait and see approach.

In most cases swine flu is a mild infection and the majority of people recover without any long term ill effects.

However, flu viruses spread faster in cold temperatures and Britain's health service aims to order enough vaccines to cover everyone, just in case there's a surge of infections this winter.

Note: two women in the UK have died from swine flu in October. They are a pregnant 17-year-old woman from the Scottish Borders, and a 21-year-old woman, from Monmouthshire, in Wales, who had a planned Caesarean section last month while suffering swine flu. The baby is said to be well.