Group B streptococcus (GBS) is the commonest cause of sepsis and meningitis in the neonatal period in the UK with case numbers similar to that of meningococcal disease in older children. 1 Mortality is around 10%, and 50% of GBS meningitis survivors are left with long-term neurodevelopmental sequelae. 1 The selective use of intravenous antibiotics during labour has been shown to reduce the incidence of early-onset GBS infection in neonates, but has no effect on late-onset disease. 2 Therefore, a better method of protecting infants is required. An alternative could be antenatal vaccination against GBS and a potential vaccine candidate is currently being trialled in pregnant women. 3 However, uptake of other antenatal vaccines is variable and some women may have concerns about potential adverse effects on their developing baby. Nevertheless, the recent UK pertussis outbreak, which resulted in 14 deaths in babies too young to be immunised themselves, led to the introduction of a vaccination programme for pregnant women. Vaccine uptake of almost 60% has been achieved suggesting that antenatal immunisation can be acceptable. 4

To assess the attitudes of women of child-bearing age in Great Britain towards antenatal immunisation and GBS, an email link to an online survey was sent to 1221 women aged 18–44 years in England, Scotland and Wales by a market research company (ComRes, London, 13–17 September 2013). The survey was adequately completed by 1013 women (83%). The questions are shown in table 1 and figure 1. After completing the first part of the survey,