Trying to conceive, possibly pregnant. To jab or not to jab?

[MyMabel]

I’ve received my text to book the vaccine; I’m a little put off as A) I have severe health anxiety and have convinced myself I will die from the side effects. And B) me and DP are trying to conceive, I’ve ovulated and the possibility of being pregnant is there. Now I’m not sure what the protocol is. Do I, or can I still get the jab? Should I? Would you?

I'm going to assume you are under 40 and not CV if you are just being invited now, therefore would only be offered Pfizer or moderna anyway, Pfizer has been approved for use in pregnancy.
Personally, if I was you I'd wait to be vaccinated, but also take all precautionary steps to avoid covid like SD ,masks, limited indoor meetings etc until after the birth and then be vaccinated. I feel younger people are being vaccinated for the good of society more than a specific personal benefit, on these occasions society should be able to collectively carry those unable to vaccinate just yet for this reason. Its a double edged sawed really - we don't fully know the long term effects of covid in pregnancy or the vaccine in pregnancy and after birth on the baby.
Whatever choice you make is going to be difficult as it is very much unknown for all scenarios

I would wait and book for after your period is due. If you get your period then go and get the vaccine before you ovulate again, if you are pregnant I would wait until 2nd trimester to get vaccinated.

Can you book the vaccine for a date by when you will definitely know if you have conceived or not? So, period due date +7 to10 days or so... if you haven't conceived, then you can take the vaccine and if you have conceived check with your GP on what to do. They are now recommending that pregnant women should get the vaccine but not sure if they ask to wait until after the 1st trimester.
When you go for your vaccine appointment, they will ask if there's any chance that you can be pregnant...but I don't know what they do if you say you might be?
Regarding health anxiety...I am not sure if this will help alleviate your worry, but there is a slightly higher chance of sever covid during pregnancy...so risk from covid may be greater than vaccine side effects during pregnancy. That's why pregnant women are urged to get the vaccine. But it's ultimately your decision. If you do get pregnant, talk to your GP / obstetrician and make an informed decision. Good luck!

I’d book it for during your next forecast period. If you are under 40 you should get Pfizer or moderna anyway if not under 40 try and find a centre where they are using those vaccines. (TTC holds no sway as I found out).

From what I’ve read you should try and avoid vaccines in very early pregnancy due to risk of fever and your immune system kicking in which could potentially cause organ damage in a developing embryo or foetus.

Hey,

I was in the exact same predicament as you. There was a possibility of pregnancy and I spoke to the nurse who was about to administer the Pfizer vaccine to me. She said if there was any chance of pregnancy at all she would not recommend getting it until you are over 14 weeks. Not recommended in the development stages. They would have given it to me if I could show them a negative test but I decided to just hold off for the time being. I did a fertility course recently online too and the advice from that was to hold off (just advice not recommending or anything) until end of dec 2022 as fertility and conception is going to be one of the last things they will figure out in terms of side effects and how it affects these areas.

Don't jab.

Covid + pregnancy = high risk

I’d get the jab (but Pfizer)

Over 90,000 pregnant women received Pfizer in the USA and no adverse outcomes were reported. 23 women in the trial also went on to get pregnant.

(Saying that, I don’t know what the official guidance is in the UK but I’d follow that.)

I would wait until knowing if pregnant or not. I know the official guidelines suggest that the vaccine (at least the Pfizer one) is safe when ttc and during pregnancy, but still, I would avoid doing it on the 1st trimester, mostly to avoid the extra anxiety and the "what if..." thoughts.

Moderna has had the same trials in USA as Pfizer with no adverse outcomes reported.