COVID Vaccine in Pregnancy

[expectinglittlebear]

Morning all,

I am sure this topic has been done over and over on here, but hoping you can give me your views on this...

Before I start, I just want to point out I am very PRO-vaccination and am therefore not an anti-vaxxer by any means!

I am currently in my first trimester of pregnancy and have recently been called up to get my first covid jab, due to the age bracket I am in. I have been trying to get as informed as I can about the covid vaccinations during pregnancy, speaking to midwife etc, and online, but everyone seems to be 'its your choice' and not really given me any concrete 'yes it is safe in pregnancy' information.

I thought I would take a look on the Pfizer website itself (the one I would be most likely to be given as a pregnant woman and it states this, which concerns me:

^6. What can you share about the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in pregnant women?
Available data on the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine administered to pregnant women are insufficient to inform vaccine-associated risks in pregnancy.1 If you are pregnant, discuss your options with your healthcare provider.^

Anyway, the point I am trying to get to is.. what are your views on getting the covid vaccine during pregnancy? Are you happy to do so, or are you looking to wait until baby is born? & if you are looking to wait, are you going to get it while BF?

Have any of you had the vaccine earlier this year and gone on to have healthy pregnancies/babies?

I know there are known risks to mum and baby if catching covid during the third trimester, but just looking for your opinions/views really.

I am so on the fence!! & concerned with the opening up of restrictions and the lack of safety information.

I had my first Pfizer vaccine at 32 weeks and my second dose one week after giving birth. No problems with either pregnancy or current BF.

I’m not sure how I would have felt having it before 12 weeks. Fevers in the first trimester can be risky, but they can also be caused by covid... When I had the vaccine cases were pretty low, but now they may well rise to 100k a day over the summer. Being pregnant and unvaccinated in that climate would worry me personally. But it’s a very individual decision.

I'm 38w pregnant, and have an appointment for my first dose on Friday.

I'm on the fence about cancelling it, as I'd rather have it after due to it taking 2 weeks or so to have any initial protection from the vaccine.

But- at the same time, negotiating a vaccine while I'm getting to grips with a newborn is also going to be really difficult so half of me thinks I should get it - and with family wanting to come and visit and restrictions easing, I think that best chance to give baby and me protection is to have it

I'm very pro vaccination - and if I had the option to have the vaccine sooner (in second or third trimester, not first I have to admit) I'd definitely get it as I think protection is very important and risks to baby are negligable, especially with restrictions easing so much.

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I had my first jab at around 23 weeks.
Second is booked when I will still be pregnant.

I had Moderna and no side affects other than sore arm for 2 days.

Just had 28 week scan an baby is looking all good.
There is a quite a lot of (positive) info/data coming out of America now where they vaccinated pregnant women from the start.

Absolutely a personal choice, but for me it was a no brainer when weighed up against risks in 3rd trimester.

Can understand the waiting till after 12 weeks though to avoid the fever risk and just because I already felt like crap in those first few months.

With everything opening up, and covid rates rising again, I would be very nervous as an unvaccinated pregnant woman, and am still quite aware that I haven't had my second jab yet.

Best of luck!

@GeorgiePorge - can you share a couple of links (being lazy and cba to google) :D

I wish I'd called in and got it sooner - but I thought I'd get a slot within days, not 3 weeks after booking (I was in the cohort where all over 18's could get jab so ALL slots booked up). And it'd be just my luck that I'd have vaccine and go straight into labour....

I'm very nervous about risks etc- especially with Delta variant.
not quite isolating til birth - but def reducing contact and only seeing people outdoors.

@onanadventure
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2104983

newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/what-studies-show-about-pregnancy-covid-19-vaccines/

cant find all the ones I was looking at the time, but above is a couple of links.

Also - there is some interesting stuff on CDC website and their V-safe programme which talks about how they are conducting studies and monitoring results.

UK advice -
www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/2021-06-30-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-in-pregnancy.pdf
from Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynae

I've got a couple of medical professionals as close friends and family, when I spoke to them they were so direct and clear in their advice I found it reassuring. Clearly they have had a very different experience actively dealing with covid patients for the last 18 months so are firmly on one side of any debate.

Personally, I'm finding pregnancy exhausting - not so much the actually growing the baby side, but finding out that everyone has such strong opinions on how I should be living my life.

If you are keen to get it maybe worth a call to your GP to see if they have any spare jabs at the end of the day whether you can be on notice. There are lots of open vaccination centres round me, but they don't sound ideal if you are heavily pregnant as too many people and too much waiting!

I’m 25 weeks and had my first moderna at 20 weeks and will have my second just before 3rd trimester starts. I was nervous but really glad I did it, baby is doing fine!

If I was in my first trimester I would probably wait until after 12 week scan just for peace of mind as I’ve had previous miscarriages.

With cases increasing I’m most scared of catching covid in third trimester so I’m really happy that I’ll be protected now. Pregnant women are something like 50% more likely to go into ICU if they catch it.

I found this really helpful:
www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/2021-02-24-combined-info-sheet-and-decision-aid.pdf

@GeorgiePorge

the opinions come thick and fast don't they.
It's nuts! And so uncalled for.

thank you for the links.
x

I've had both in my third trimester. The known risks of covid are scary, and the mechanism for the vaccine very well understood.

The vaccine breaks down so quickly and the molecules are physically too big to pass through the placenta. So there's no way of the baby getting any vaccine itself. But my white blood cells do pass through, so this way baby has the best chance of being born with antibodies.

I was also a little nervous of any vaccine side effects for me. It'd be much easier if I was to get a fever etc, if that happened before the baby, rather than whilst breastfeeding/caring for a newborn. As it was, with my first Pfizer, I had arm ache, and a headache that lifted with paracetamol. Nothing after the second jab at all.

Thank you for your opinions and the links! Going to take a look at the links tonight.

It is such a hard decision isn't it :(

What did you decide @expectinglittlebear

I had both Pfizer vaccines in my second trimester. For me, the known risks of catching COVID while pregnant outweighed any hypothetical risk of a vaccine. I had a bit of a sore arm on both occasions and no other side effects. Baby was fine on 22 week scan (after first jab) and is still kicking around.

There's a long but informative webinar here, which you may find helpful: