NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WTVF) – Pregnant women in the healthcare industry are wondering if they should receive the COVID-19 vaccine, as it is available after emergency use authorization.
At Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. Jennifer Thompson, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, said the risks associated with COVID-19 during pregnancy are much worse than the risks associated with the vaccine. .
Thompson said: “They have a higher risk of hospitalization, need ICU, mechanical ventilation and a slightly increased risk of death compared to non-pregnant patients.”
He said his recommendation refers to Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for pregnant patients or those trying to get pregnant.
“Therefore, because of this increased risk, pregnant women are considered a higher risk group, and therefore many of our organizations, CDC, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Society for Maternal -Fetal Medicine, recommend COVID- Vaccine 19 should not be retained in pregnant women who meet the vaccination criteria according to the recommended priority group, “Thompson said.
Dr. Thomspon practices what she preaches. “In fact, I received my vaccine on Friday, so I’m not worried right now about long-term safety data,” Thompson said. He noted that it has not yet had any side effects.
Although pregnant women were excluded from the trials, some women joined without knowing they were pregnant. Dr. Thompson said they have followed these cases closely. “These numbers are really small, but we haven’t seen any significant adverse reactions from both the pregnancy and the fetus point of view,” Thompson said.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation. There was a circulating article online that said the vaccine could cause infertility. Dr. Thompson said there is no evidence to back it up.
“There is some concern that spike protein has a genetic composition similar to one of the placental proteins, but the similarity is less than 1% and infertility has not been found from any of the scientific data, ”Thompson said.
In addition, the COVID-19 vaccine is believed to be safe for women who are breastfeeding. The live vaccine is not recommended for pregnant women, but the COVID-19 vaccine is not live. “This is an mRNA vaccine that is broken down by the body and not incorporated into your DNA at all,” Thompson said, “fetal risks are believed to be low due to the fact that mRNA it is broken down by your circulation and the clinical studies have been very reassuring ”.
If you have any questions, talk to your doctor. Thompson said, “What we know about the vaccine and what we don’t know about the vaccine is in those shared discussions of decision-making by patients when it comes to deciding what’s best for them.”
To move forward, there is an effort to have records available for pregnant women who received the vaccine through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention according to Thompson.