Pregnant women must first give birth and then be vaccinated
According to the guidelines issued by the Public Health England, pregnant women will have to wait until they give birth before they can be vaccinated against Covid-19.
This is because, while "there is no confirmed risk" associated with pregnancy, "as with most medicines, no specific clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine have been performed in pregnant women."
Particularly, in The United Kingdom it is recommended:
- If a woman is pregnant, then her Covid-19 vaccination is postponed until after she has given birth.
- If a woman is vaccinated with the first dose and finds out in the meantime that she is pregnant, then her pregnancy should be completed first before being vaccinated with the second dose.
- New breastfeeding mothers are safe and can be vaccinated without any reservations.
- Women belonging to high-risk groups because of other health issues apart from their pregnancy, must be vaccinated as soon as they give labour.
We asked Dr. Thanos Paraschos, director of the EmBIO Assisted Reproduction Center, to comment on these new recommendations from the British Commission:
"Based on all the scientific data that we have so far; it is clear that there is no cause for concern nor any worry regarding the safety or any side effects of the vaccines that are ready to be approved. On the other hand, there is insufficient information to suggest the use of Covid-19 vaccines during pregnancy. This is because pregnant women were not included in any of the clinical trials that took place ".
He continues: "From all the scientific data gathered to this date, it is absolutely transparent that pregnant women do not seem to be more at risk of catching the coronavirus compared to the general population. In fact, research has not established the possibility of the coronavirus being transmitted from the pregnant woman to the fetus. Nevertheless, pregnant women should follow all the hygiene and precautionary rules that apply to the general population. That is, watch out for suspicious symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath), especially if they have traveled or come in contact with any suspected case or even if there are suspected cases in their area. In fact, if they show similar symptoms, then they should not visit the maternity hospital or a hospital alone, but should first contact their gynecologist or the responsible health authorities (EODY) for instructions."
