Pregnant or TTC women and the vaccine

[DoveGreylove]

Will you take it? Should we be concerned about the possible side effects?

@DoveGreylove definitely not! It's not deemed safe for those categories so I'll be steering well clear www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/coronavirus-vaccine-scotland-pregnant-women-19385772

And bbc below

No, they have quite clearly stated it’s not suitable for pregnant women as it’s not been tested on them.

Thank you I hadn't seen that advice for TTC.

To be honest I should have deleted "pregnant" out of the title as I know that pregnant women shouldn't have it. Silly tired me...

I understand your concern. If I were TTC I would either defer TTC for a few months if I could have the vaccine soon, or just wait until done with pregnancy and BF. I wouldn't continue TTC and have the vaccine. Good luck, it is hard to know what to do for the best

[quote notyetamumbuttrying]@DoveGreylove definitely not! It's not deemed safe for those categories so I'll be steering well clear www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/coronavirus-vaccine-scotland-pregnant-women-19385772[/quote]
They have not deemed it not to be safe actually. They haven't been able to say either way. They don't have any data as yet to say about it's safety in pregnant women and for those TTC. As the JCVI have said they are taking a precautionary approach at this stage with their advice until they know for sure.

Bearing in mind. If your child bearing age, which you obviously are :) and have no health conditions.
You may not get offered the vaccine till late next year anyway?!!?

Can I ask a question that I assume is a silly one (given that I've seen no mention of this anywhere else)?

Could the vaccine have any lingering effects on your body? If you want to TTC within 2-5 years, for example?

No body knows that yet @crumbes

Is it a genuine concern to have?

@Crumbes exactly, that's my point in asking the question

@SnowyJungle I'm in no rush to take the vaccine... I didn't say I was "expecting it" any time soon

I am interested if other women are also wondering should they not get the vaccine until they're finished with having children. Which could be years for us. We may want one more, two more, three more children.. We don't know any side effects.

I definitely am, and was feeling slightly concerned that it doesn't seem to be discussed anywhere. I don't know anything about the scientific process but would be really keen to read up more about it.

Me too @Crumbes it's bad enough being pregnant in the pandemic but now countless women who want to TTC will have to worry about the vaccine and if it's safe for them to take it or not.

Yes I wondered about this too. I don't have any answers but it is a concern to me too (I am planning to start TTC in about a year). The advice on the gov.uk website just says that the impact on fertility is unknown. I was/most likely am fully intending to have the vaccine but I'd be lying if I said this didn't worry me a little. I don't even know if this is a legitimate concern - maybe this is standard for vaccines!? Hopefully someone who knows more about it can help to explain it.

Just like to add I have similar concerns but also from the male point of view could it affect their fertility?

Me too @CKBJ I think we need to consider men in this too

I didnt say you expected it @DoveGreylove

I'm breastfeeding and won't be having it despite being quite high up the priority list due to my job. It looks like it's potentially going to cause some issues at work but we shall see what happens!

It'll take months and months and probably years before you're offered it so don't worry yet

From an immunological perspective there’s no reason to think the vaccine would have an effect on fertility any more than covid infection might. I think it helps to know that a vaccine is just mimicking infection with the virus so there is no reason to suspect it would do anything different to the viral infection. Vaccines wouldn’t contain any chemicals known to impact on fertility either.

There are studies showing that covid infection impacts upon sperm production due to inflammation in the testes although I don’t know if it’s long term or not.

I will be TTC after spring next year which is when I aim to have enough money saved to take maternity leave.
I'm assuming that the vaccine won't come to my age group until maybe summer 2021 or later which will be around the same time I will be TTC and myself and my partner have agreed that I would put off having the vaccine until after birth also spoke to my GP and they advised the same thing and said more information will be available over the coming weeks....I suppose there's no real answer to what's right or wrong at the moment and won't really know the side effects until more and more get vaccinated

JS87 But this is not like a standard vaccine. It's an mRNA vaccine. Which is new territory.

Unlike conventional vaccines, which are produced using weakened forms of the virus, RNA vaccines are constructed using only the pathogen’s genetic code.

Many standard vaccines work by injecting a dead or weakened form of the pathogen into the body in preparations that are designed not to make you sick but rather to build immunity. The key to building this immunity is that the portion of the pathogen called the antigen trains the immune system to recognise and respond to the infectious agent.

RNA vaccines work by introducing into the body a messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence that contains the genetic instructions for the vaccinated person’s own cells to produce the vaccine antigens and generate an immune response

We have no idea what the long term effects of genetically modifying our cells could be.

Government website has published patient information for the vaccine which includes advice for pregnant women, those breastfeeding and those ttc.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/940566/InformationnforUKKrecipientsonnPfizerBioNTechhCOVID-19_vaccine.pdf

I'm TTC and not going to get it