To think pregnant women should get the vaccine

[HopefulRose]

This is controversial but had a lively debate with a family member about this today. I’m currently pregnant and double jabbed and hopeful I can get my booster soon. I’ve been quite surprised and tbh annoyed at the number of pregnant women refusing to get the vaccine.

Pregnant women who are unvaccinated end up getting much more sick from Covid than those who have the vaccines. And those who are getting ill end up taking up resources in hospitals which causes a knock on effect to the care of other pregnant women who are vaccinated. A friend recently was supposed to have a home birth but had to go into hospital because there weren’t enough midwives due to this very problem.

Perhaps it’s a failure on the government/ DHSC’s behalf for not communicating this strongly enough. I understand if there are genuine concerns but most of the people I’ve spoken to who don’t want the vaccine don’t appear to be interested in the medical or logical arguments and their decisions come from ‘feeling’ (or Facebook) rather than reasoning.

@OliviaBean the whole point of the mrna vaccines is that they quickly leave the body (within 2 days) so any side effects would show really quickly and hidden ones are very unlikely as nothing remains after that time to have any effect on anything.

Normal vaccines you can see side effects for upto 2 months after. Nothing in life is risk free, for Christ sake even giving birth can kill you both.
COVID is dangerous for pregnant women and that is a fact, worrying about factors that will probably not happen and avoiding being protected is nonsensical.

If you did your research you’d also know that the person responsible for the increase miscarriage risk research has pulled it because he has found it is not correct.

@Ralph871

98% of pregnant women ill enough to need hospitalised with Covid were unvaccinated.
And 13 of them died.
Of course it is each woman’s free choice whether to get vaccinated - but we have a duty to make them aware of the lethal risk they are running if they refuse.

‘ You are an extremely ignorant individual and should concentrate on your own pregnancy instead of trying to cause arguments because individuals (quite rightly) don't want to inject themselves with an experimental vaccine that has ZERO evidence to suggest it's safe to take in pregnancy.’
^

We don’t inject ourselves for starters, there’s tonnes of evidence to suggest it is safe. Thousands and thousands of women have had this during pregnancy with no side effects. It is ignorant to believe negative vaccine propaganda and to not do correct scientific research.

There really isn’t @Ralph871
Stop exploiting vulnerable women with incorrect sources of information.

Women are put in a very difficult position. Caroline Criado-Perez made a good point on this that I hadn’t considered before - in a trial you would have oversight, accountability etc, but we don’t put pregnant women through trials for new medicines. Instinctively we might think, “Of course not!”, and I wouldn’t say we must for everything. But when the situation, as with the Covid vaccines, is not trialling it carefully and rigorously with pregnant women, but telling pregnant women to have it due to the circumstances we find ourselves in globally, all of the risk taking and accountability is put on the woman.

I had both jabs in pregnancy. In my mind, the choice was ultimately between the known risk of Covid in pregnancy (especially third tri risks, tragically, of loss and death) versus the unknown about the future knowing that there hasn’t so far been any immediate awareness of complications. I live in a densely populated area with lower vaccine take up (London!) and my third tri coincided with loosening restrictions, so it seemed riskier to not be jabbed.

However, I don’t blame any woman for not knowing what to do or not being confident in vaccination during pregnancy. Pregnant women are criticised throughout pregnancy as it is, many won’t even touch a drop of coffee or a soft boiled egg and so many other things because they are told “Don’t do this!” without much explanation as to why or what the potential risks are. No wonder the vaccine is scary, especially when there has been conflicting advice.

@Staryflight445

*"We don't inject ourselves for starters"
*
Oh ffs give it a rest

It's their choice, I'd feel apprehensive if I was pregnant or trying for a baby.
Maybe now a year in I'd be more comfortable.
I'm not vaccinating my 6 y.o ATM.
If it was a once off I'd allow it but not every 6 months, my DM died of covid my dad died since, we're not vulnerable I've risked assessed for my DS.
DD had it she was in bed for 3 days she is 12 ASD, We parents are dbl vaccinated.

@Babdoc

98% of pregnant women ill enough to need hospitalised with Covid were unvaccinated. And 13 of them died. Of course it is each woman’s free choice whether to get vaccinated - but we have a duty to make them aware of the lethal risk they are running if they refuse.

This is just quoting statistics that mean NOTHING.

98% of how many women?

13 women died out of how many over what time period?

This comment means absolutely fuck all.

No I won’t give it a rest.
Nobody is hiding the risks of the covid jab, the evidence is there and many papers support that the risks of having the jab are hugely pale to the risk of what COVID can do to you.

If you want to believe absolute bollocks you go for it @Ralph871 but stop spreading misinformation that is dangerous to others.

I'm pregnant, had both jabs, haven't yet been offered booster but i'll also have that.

I will do everything I can to protect my baby and not get ill,

HOWEVER many pregnant women will not have the vaccine and will say that they are doing that to also protect their unborn child.

One side is wrong and one is right, but who am I to judge and say there isn't a possibility I am wrong?

I’ve had both my vaccines while pregnant. For me it was a no brainer. I just weighed up the worst case outcomes. I figured the worst case outcomes of not taking the vaccine - I die and leave one or both of my children motherless (if my second survives); I catch Covid, my child is born prematurely and is disabled as a result; or I catch Covid, my child is stillborn as a result. Then I figured that the worst case outcome of accepting the vaccine is that there are some mysterious ‘long term effects’ that will become apparent in the future but given the way vaccines work and the fact vaccine components don’t cross the placenta that seems unlikely.

It’s an individual risk assessment though. For example, a woman pregnant with her first child doesn’t have the welfare of an existing child to consider (or a small germ vector in her house). So she might conclude that the risk of her and her baby dying of Covid is low and if it did happen, she’d rather die than deal with the mysterious ‘long term effects’ down the line.

YABU. There is no long term data. That is a reasonable factor for pregnant women to take into account. The suggestion that midwives are run off their feet because of naughty, selfish unvaccinated women is a fucking insult; the entire sector has been on its knees for ages, midwives are leaving in droves, and out of every 30 newly qualified midwives, only one will end up taking a permanent post. Home births started being pulled by almost every Trust in March 2020 and it's one excuse after another as to why they won't reinstate them properly. Scapegoating women for the harms being caused by a lack of investment and care in the sector is sickening.

@Ralph871 I think 13 pregnant women dying means a huge amount x

Have had Covid (felt rough for a bit but no worse than flu) and am double-jabbed. Husband is getting his booster this weekend but I’m 19 weeks pregnant and I will not be joining him. As I understand it, the pregnant women in ICU are completely unvaccinated - I AM vaccinated, and I’ve also had Covid before. I suffer from anxiety (have support from the perinatal MH team) and after much thought I decided that the risk to the baby of me worrying incessantly about what effect the booster might have is greater than me catching Covid a second time and it being worse than it was when I caught it unvaccinated. It’s a very personal decision, I think.

I am aghast at the selfish, quite frankly thick, anti vaxxers. They are happy to go about their lives putting others at risk and making no effort towards the collective good of the country. However I completely empathise with those who don't get the vaccinations for genuine health worries. I'm pregnant and have had both my vaccinations, the second days before I conceived. I'm due a booster soon which I will probably get. However as someone who has had numerous miscarriages and fertility issues, there is a certain level of worry that I have, despite the guidance. Therefore I couldn't get annoyed at anyone who held off if it was for the aforementioned reasons.

No data at all on effects to the unborn baby. I am double jabbed (when not pregnant) but won’t be getting a booster while pregnant. If you restrict paracetamol and caffeine surely you wouldn’t want to put random untested vaccines in?

@BuffyFanForever

No data at all on effects to the unborn baby. I am double jabbed (when not pregnant) but won’t be getting a booster while pregnant. If you restrict paracetamol and caffeine surely you wouldn’t want to put random untested vaccines in?

My thoughts exactly!! I wasn't allowed to have my usual coffees or ibuprofen but I'm gonna have 3 doses of something with no data available on the effects on baby?? The doctor wouldn't even prescribe me pain relief or drugs to solve my problem that made me cry down the phone to him in pain because there was not enough data on how it can affect the foetus. And yet midwives and other people turn their nose at you because you won't take something to solve (what was for me) cold like symptoms. OP keep your parenting opinions to yourself...you do you.

You'd think being pregnant you'd especially value a pregnant womans right to make decisions about her own body.

[quote Staryflight445]@OliviaBean the whole point of the mrna vaccines is that they quickly leave the body (within 2 days) so any side effects would show really quickly and hidden ones are very unlikely as nothing remains after that time to have any effect on anything.

Normal vaccines you can see side effects for upto 2 months after. Nothing in life is risk free, for Christ sake even giving birth can kill you both.
COVID is dangerous for pregnant women and that is a fact, worrying about factors that will probably not happen and avoiding being protected is nonsensical.[/quote]
We don't agree on the assessment of risk and that's ok. It's my body and my baby.

Your post is filled with generalisations, be careful what nonsense you spread about without backing it up with real data.

Am pregnant and actively trying to organise my booster. There's no long term knowledge on babies for most medicines because they're not always tested. I trust the scientists not to essentially kill / maim / hurt the future generation 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just wondering how many of you will drive during pregnancy or even cross the road both of which are pretty risky things to do.

Most people currently in hospital seriously ill with covid are unvaccinated and come from a smaller subpopulation of 5m people compared with the few sick people from a population of 45million who are vaccinated.

Literally none of your business