If fever is a side effect of the vaccine then isn’t that a huge risk for pregnant women?

[Brandi1234]

At the risk of starting a debate (not my intention at all), if one of the more common side effects of the vaccine is fever which is not good whatsoever for unborn baby, then how/why is it okay for pregnant women to get the vaccine?

I say this as someone who had covid pre pregnancy and had no fever at all.

But everyone I know who’s has the jab has experienced at least a mild fever so now I’m really panicked.

Isn’t fever during pregnancy really, really bad? Maybe I’m being very basic but am I missing something here?

Again, not wanting a debate just mildly confused and scared. Thanks ladies!

[Purpledoggy]

I believe fever is really mainly an issue in first trimester, which may be one of the reasons RCOG suggest waiting until after week 12. The fever from the jab should be mild and shortlived rather than a protracted fever with an illness, and very few pregnant women experience fever with the first jab (the second one seems to have more risk of fever). I think the main thing to consider is that for most risk and severity of fever will be far worse from contracting COVID (you were very lucky to have no fever if you are unvaccinated), so risks of the jab need to be weighed up against risks of contracting COVID rather than in isolation, if that makes sense. I think that is the cornerstone argument of vaccinating pregnant women in general - if you look at risk of vaccine versus risk of not vaccinating in isolation, no one would ever take any vaccines (because no vaccine is 100% risk free), but when you weigh them up against the risk of the disease they protect against it is a very different weighting. xx

[Brandi1234 in reply to Purpledoggy]

Thank you so much for that! That makes a lot of sense too about the fever being less severe from the jab versus from an illness. Plus I didn’t realise it was only a factor in the first trimester. Appreciate the response! X

[Purpledoggy in reply to Brandi1234]

There is a sketchy link between autism and fever in second trimester, but there is a more convincing link between fever and congenital defects in first trimester, and fever in early pregnancy may be linked to loss, though it is unclear whether it is the fever or the associated infection. Mild fever on its own is unlikely to do much, it is more severe fever that is a problem, and that is generally unlikely after a vaccination, especially if paracetamol is taken at the same time and afterwards xx

[Brandi1234 in reply to Purpledoggy]

Ok interesting, thanks for that!

[cmbxm]

Paracetamol is a fever stopper and is safe in pregnancy and post jab x

[Brandi1234 in reply to cmbxm]

Thank you! X

[Seb9]

I've had all my vaccines during pregnancy, flu, whooping cough and Covid and didn't have any fever with any of them. With the covid one I even checked my temperature several times over a couple of days.

I don't think the fever you get with the Covid vaccines would be anywhere near as unmanageable as if you were to get a fever from Covid and you can manage any fever with paracetamol and know what signs your looking out for straight away.

With getting covid your first symptoms might be a high fever and you could struggle to control it and you could also be unlucky enough to have all the other symptoms of Covid including the breathing difficulties which could really be an issue when in later pregnancy your lung capacity is already reduced by your expanding belly. I'm 31 weeks and just housework is enough to make my breathing harder, without being ill on top.

So it's really about weighing up the risks for yourself. For me personally I would rather have the vaccine, (which has had really promising results for having in pregnancy with no signs of increase in miscarriage) and know to take some paracetamol for any signs of fever against getting Covid-19 with no protection and not knowing how my body would react to it.

[Brandi1234 in reply to Seb9]

Thank you so much for the response I appreciate your input considering my you had all the jabs during your pregnancy, that’s a relief to hear from someone who has real life experience. I hadn’t even considered the breathing issue which was one of the few symptoms I had when I contracted covid!

[Bigblueskies]

Hi some good points already above, the vaccine shouldn’t cause fever. At worst the side effects could include a mild temperature which is not dangerous in pregnancy. Personally I had no temperature rise at all from the vaccine.

On the other hand, family members who had mild covid before being vaccinated had high temperatures that would just not come down with paracetamol. It was particularly dangerous for their young baby, my niece, who was 5 months old at the time and she developed a fever of 39.5 to 40C. Nothing worked to bring it down and it was terrifying for us all and especially her parents, because of the risk of dehydration and other complications for such young babies. It made me quite aware that although young children are generally safe from covid, it doesn’t mean it’s not a big risk for them to have other complications from it.

So I think my experience and what I know is that the vaccine wouldn’t raise temperature above dangerous levels and any rise would respond to paracetamol. Covid on the other hand is completely uncontrollable and can cause extremely high fever which is dangerous for pregnant women and young babies.

One of the main reasons I’m happy to get the vaccine, and will be getting my second dose soon, is that it will provide a little immunity to my newborn too and give me some peace of mind in those first few month after the birth.

[Brandi1234 in reply to Bigblueskies]

Thanks for your input, appreciate it! Yeah see I’m totally up for getting my the vaccine once the babies born to pass on immunity by breastfeeding, and I guess because I had covid with no major issues I’m more concerned about how bad I’ve seen people around me respond to the vaccine compared to when I had covid and didn’t have much of a reaction. If I hadn’t had covid before I’m sure my thought process would be different

[Bigblueskies in reply to Brandi1234]

Thank you! That’s really interesting and I hadn’t thought of it before as I always assumed that unless I’m actually going through an illness at the time of breastfeeding and so is my baby, I wouldn’t be able to pass on any immunity that way. I assumed that it wouldn’t work with vaccines because the baby’s immune system won’t be responding to a virus at the same time.

Breastfeeding is great, perhaps I’m underestimating it’s role in vaccines. If you get any clarification on that from your consultant I would also be keen to know!