COVID vaccine in pregnancy

[Jess994]

I know there is now research for pregnant American women getting the COVID vaccine. I’m not sure what to do, has anyone else got any thoughts?

[Seb9]

If you weren't pregnant are you on the high risk or age brackets that are currently being offered the vaccine? I don't think here they're currently routinely offering it to pregnant woman unless you fall into one of those brackets that would put you at higher risk. Also for if you work in a high risk environment like a front line worker in hospitals etc. I've got gestational diabetes and have already have my flu and whooping cough vaccine and been fine so if they will let me have the covid vaccine while pregnant I'll definitely get it because I'm sure I'd be sicker from covid than I will be from the vaccine. My fear of getting covid is more than my fear of the vaccine. Having seen some friends with long covid I can't imagine going through labour/ having newborn and toddler to look after with long term covid symptoms or worse not being around to see my children grow up.

The stats from countries that have been vaccinating pregnant woman are really positive so I think the guidance is being updated quite often so we might be offered it routinely soon like the flu and whooping cough vaccines,which I think would be great.

[Jess994 in reply to Seb9]

Thank you so much for your reply. I do class as a front line worker and I’m now in my third trimester. I asked my midwife today and she said the vaccine has not been tested on pregnant women so only really recommended for pregnant women to who have high risk conditions. I’m just really unsure on what to do

[Seb9 in reply to Jess994]

If you're working in a high risk environment then I think your midwife might need to have a look at the most up to date research and guidance, there's a really good leaflet on the Royal college of obstetricians and gynaecologists that's got more details. It says that it should be offered to pregnant woman the same as the rest of the population so based on age and clinical risk.This is from the 16th April so fairly recent development.

[Hidden in reply to Seb9]

I’m a high risk worker, got them at 10 and 16 weeks and very glad I did. I did my own reading and felt confident with my decision. I don’t fancy covid in 3rd trimester and really don’t fancy long covid! Your midwife’s research is not up to date as the rules changed this week based on research.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Also imagine being able to offer you newborn covid antibodies when they are born- if you have a poorly baby stuck in hospital who then gets covid, I feel the more research coming out the better the outcomes

[Liberty82 in reply to Hidden]

Can I ask which vaccine you had? I had my first AZ dose before I got pregnant, I'm now 13 weeks and unsure whether to have my 2nd and can't get a clear answer from any health professionals. Thanks

[Hidden in reply to Liberty82]

I had Pfizer - mainly because when I had my first one that was the only one avaliable! A friend of mine is pregnant, a neonatal consultant and has had both Astra-Zeneca ones and would have had either (I know not evidence but it’s nice to know what others are doing!) Try and find the most up to date information - it is changing rapidly and the advice is now to have them. If you think you can shield and don’t want to take that risk that’s your personal choice. Unfortunately not all medical staff can stay up to date with every update

[Liberty82 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks, I'm in such 2 minds. Im frightend do either. Its taken us 8 years to have this baby so I'm a nervous wreck as it is. But I'm 39, and have a bmi of 31 so am considered high risk anyway.

[Hidden in reply to Liberty82]

Unfortunately there is only so much fact finding you can do before you have to just make the decision! Whatever you do - make sure you and your partner have made it together and made peace with it. One of our nurses didn’t have it, had covid and went into labour at 36 weeks and had baby in special care for a week - was that related to her having Covid? realistically we’ll never know but more research is coming to suggest it might be. Once you make your decision try and put it out your mind and focus on the things you can control xx

[Liberty82 in reply to Hidden]

Its been 11 weeks since I had the first jab, and I'm now almost 13 weeks pregnant. Do you think I could wait til im 16 weeks for the 2nd? My sister is a nurse and her colleague ended up with long covid caring for a baby, to me the risks are higher with covid, I can't realistically sheild either. I do think I'm more swung towards getting the 2nd jab but I'd like to be over 14 weeks at least. Sorry for all the questions x

[Hidden in reply to Liberty82]

This was the early advice for high risk workers that came out mid jan saying 14 weeks so yes I would say on balance that seems like a sensible option! I really don’t fancy long covid or being in a coma when the baby is born!

[Liberty82 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for this info x

[Msze in reply to Jess994]

Your midwife is incorrect. There is a lot of research on testing on pregnant women at this point.

[Linda84Co in reply to Msze]

Hey just wanted to tell you all, there have been no trial yet on pregnant woman who have received Covid19 vaccine, not even in America. Yes there are offering the vaccine to pregnant woman but again the large clinical trials which showed that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective did not include pregnant women. This means there is limited information about the effects of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy.Here in London I’ve been offer astrazeneca three months ago and now guideline is to not offer astrazeneca to pregnant woman. I’m so happy that I didn’t take the vaccine and I’m not going to till I give birth.

It’s a personal decision of course.

Good luck to all of you xx

[Msze in reply to Linda84Co]

Why are you posting something completely untrue? FYI, I live in America. Below are the links to the trials and end result of pregnant women being encouraged to get vaccinated.

pfizer.com/news/press-relea...

google.com/amp/s/api.nation...

ctvnews.ca/health/coronavir...

[Linda84Co in reply to Msze]

I’m not trying to prove something, what I shared has been told to me by the best consultants in UK, we haven’t been inform here that there was a trial on pregnant woman, and my argument was base on my own experience with the system, as I mentioned I’ve been offer astrazeneca while pregnant and now the advise is to not offer astrazeneca. Here we are all sharing the information we’ve been given. Thank you for the links.

[Linda84Co in reply to Msze]

Also here is the link of the official which is available to us:

rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-r...

[KiboXX]

They just updated the guidance in the UK and are now saying it should be offered to pregnant woman when they are eligible age-wise, not just keyworkers and high risk individuals.

Also promising research from Israel is showing mums passing antibodies onto babies through the placenta xx

[DanABC20]

I feel you. Seeing my midwife next week, will be asking for advise on what toDo. My work are already pushing me to have it but it’s not even at my age group yet. I work

Within a school. My dr wants me to go into shielding

For this reason.

[Sparklylife in reply to DanABC20]

I am pretty sure that even if you decide to have the vaccine, the guidance in the UK is that you should still do a risk assessment and work from home after 28 weeks, so not sure how it would benefit work. Might be worth looking up if they are being pushy as it still is your decision.

gov.uk/government/publicati...

Not saying you should or should not have the vaccine, a decision I am now struggling with myself - I will be trying to look up the actual research and facts from good sources from the US and Israel - so if anyone has already found some - would be appreciated! Have already read the RCOG guidance. And will also speak to my midwife again as initially she recommended I did not have it on the guidance that was out at the time, but not sure now.

So hard to know/decide what to do for best! And all I want to do is make sure I do what is best for my unborn child 🧐 Wishing everyone all the best with their decisions!

[DanABC20 in reply to Sparklylife]

MyEmployers are being awful. 😢

[Magicteacher]

I’m 22 weeks and work in a school. So unsure what to do. I want the vaccine but also worry about risks to child later on (no evidence of due to time)although , willing to read up ect. I feel that whilst rates are low then I won’t get the vaccine, however, if rates increase I will get it as risk of covid whilst pregnant outweigh vaccine risks?

I am concerned more seems to be said about Indian variant; is it vaccine resistant? If case then it makes it harder to justify having.

I wonder if we will ever be asked to shield?

I’ve been told I can be in class after 28 weeks as risk assessment supports it. Very difficult

[Blueskies75 in reply to Magicteacher]

I also work in a school and was offered it, I waited until 12 weeks for my scan but then got the vaccine immediately. The thought of covid is way worse.

Not much research yet but no research or theory are showing any potential risks and it is not a live vaccine so I was keen to go for it.

The UK have published guidance now saying that pregnant woman will be called up within their groups so they aren't hesitating.

[Liberty82 in reply to Blueskies75]

Can I ask which vaccine you had? I had my first AZ before I got pregnant, I'm now 13 weeks an eligible for my 2nd but I'm unsure whether to have it.

[Blueskies75 in reply to Liberty82]

I had AZ and intend on sticking with it for second in a few weeks. Would have taken other options if it was now.

[Liberty82 in reply to Blueskies75]

Have you had your 2nd vaccine? I've booked in for my 2nd AZ when I'll be 16.5 weeks, 15 weeks after my first jab. It wasn't a tough decision but I feel like this is the right one for me and my family.

[Blueskies75 in reply to Liberty82]

Got my second booked for a fortnight (24 weeks by then)

[Annatinks-ar]

I had my son in December before this was being offered but I felt similarly conflicted around having it while breastfeeding. In the end I was put through to a professor via the breastfeeding network and her advice was that the vaccine itself could not pass into the milk but my antibodies would once I was producing them. She referenced that this had happened to women who had contracted Covid whilst pregnant and breastfeeding. The thing is that whilst children are generally not affected by Covid infants under one are. In Brazil (which yea has crazy high numbers) there have been over 1300 deaths of babies. This made me want to have the vaccine to provide my son as much early protection as possible.

[Tgum]

Personally I would but entirely up to you. Research shows that the vaccine does not harm the unborn fetus.

[Ivf2020A]

I also feel conflicted I have had the emergency cervical cerclage and am at risk of pre term birth so Im worried the temperature etc you get as a result of the vaccine will bring about labour xx

[Seb9 in reply to Ivf2020A]

It's so hard isn't it? Especially with the numbers coming down so the risk of you getting covid is getting lower. I guess for me the positive about the vaccine is that you can plan for it. If you know you could get a spike in temperature you can take paracetamol before, during etc and keep taking your temperature. Whereas if you get covid-19 you could spike a fever as the first sign you're sick and you don't know how long you could be sick for,so it's harder to control your temperature. It's a difficult choice. I have my 20 week scan on Friday and I think next week I'll speak to my midwife about getting it. I am obese and have gestational diabetes so I think for me the vaccine seems like the best option for my particular situation, but it's still quite a hard choice. Good luck with your decision and pregnancy xx

[Ivf2020A in reply to Seb9]

Yes that is something to think about I too will have a chat with the pre term clinic ladies and see what they say xx thank you for that and good luck to you too x

[Seb9 in reply to Ivf2020A]

Thank you, I just had my 20 week scan today and all was good so I've phoned my GP to see what they recommend now with the updated guide lines. 🤞 They can give me some advice to settle it for me whether to have it or wait xx

[caverali]

The UK guidance has now changed and pregnant women will be offered the Phizer or Moderna vaccine at the same time as others in their age group.(This I find strange as pregnant women as classed as clinically vulnerable so should surely be being offered it now, but better than not being offered at all, I guess).

From what I've seen, the data is looking very promising.

Personally I'll be accepting it, but that's mainly because I work with kids, which are still significant transmission vectors. If my work was with adults who will all have been vaccinated then I probably would have hesitated a bit but still ultimately got it to help protect LO but also me through the hospital appointments.

[Liberty82]

I had the Oxford one just before I fell pregnant, I'm not sure how long one dose gives me protection. I see its just the moderna and the pzifer that the data is on. Id like to have the protection and also for my baby too when he/she is born, it would give me a lot of peace of mind. Does anyone know would I then have to have 2 doses of another vaccine? I see the midwife in 2 weeks, I suppose I can discuss it then.

[sookie_k in reply to Liberty82]

I’m in the same situation as you. I got the first dose of AZ vaccine before I got pregnant. Midwife advised me to delay second dose until I’ve had my 20 week scan. However, since new guidance came out I’m not sure if I should have the second dose of the AZ vaccine. I’m looking forward to hear about the advice you get in a few weeks.

[Liberty82 in reply to sookie_k]

Yes, I'll update once I've spoken to the midwife x

[Liberty82 in reply to sookie_k]

Hi, just thought I'd update you after my midwife appointment, not that there was much information given. She really didn't know about whether it was safe to get the 2nd oxford vaccine, I asked the consultant about receiving the Pfizer at a later date in pregnancy but she didn't think this would be a good idea as nobody would know the side effects of them being mixed. So I'm still pretty much in the dark. I did on NHS England that of you've had the first oxford vaccine before pregnancy you should have your 2nd dose as planned but I can't say I'd be confident having it done and I'm guessing there will also a lot of confusion among GPs aswell.

[sookie_k in reply to Liberty82]

Thank you for letting me know. Yes, I imagine there’s a lot of confusion about it at the moment. I’m the same as you, I don’t feel confident having it until there’s more evidence around, so might just have to wait this one out...

[Liberty82 in reply to sookie_k]

I've bounced between one decision and the other. My cousin who is a doctor is working st the covid vaccine Centre, she said with the data she has she would choose to have it in pregnancy, my sister who is a nurse says the same. I kinda decided that I would and now I've changed my mind again. Im going to ring my GP tomorrow to discuss it. Im high risk so there's that added worry, its a total minefield im just terrified of making the wrong decision but ultimately I want what is best for the baby.

[sookie_k in reply to Liberty82]

Originally I got the advice to wait until 20 weeks (as with most other vaccines). Maybe that’s a good compromise?

[Liberty82 in reply to sookie_k]

I just thought I'd update you. I recently saw my cousin who is a doctor at the vaccine centre, she really advocated the vaccine and said it was important that I got it. I said I was frightened for the baby and she said there is nothing in that vaccine that can harm the baby, the only thing it will do is give the baby some anti bodies for when its born. I really needed someone to say either way to have it but after speaking to her I feel very reassured and have booked in for my 2nd jab on wed. Ill let you know how it goes. At that stage I'll be almost 17 weeks and it'll be 15 weeks since I got the first vaccine. X

[sookie_k in reply to Liberty82]

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately I lost my baby a few weeks ago. 😢 I wish you all the best, and I’m sure the doctors are right. Catching Covid poses a much greater risk than the vaccine. I think I would have had it as well anyway.

[Liberty82 in reply to sookie_k]

I'm so sorry to hear that. X

[SRA8]

As with all vaccines it's a personal decision. I had all my vaccines whilst pregnant pre-COVID. Although not pregnant now I would certainly have the COVID vaccine if pregnant and offered it. For me the risk of COVID/long COVID out weighs any potential side effects.

As the ladies above have said there is now enough evidence to say it is safe in pregnancy.