To all the pregnant ladies - please get your jab

[Cancellingadvice]

Link: www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58014779

171 pregnant ladies admitted to hospital in last 3 months, 98% unvaccinated (3 had a single dose only, none double jabbed). One in 5 of them went on to have a premature birth

Conversely, more than 55,000 pregnant women have had the jab in the country with no safety concerns

So please get the jab if you’re pregnant

@SW1amp

Sadly, OP, the RCOG, NHS, NMC and god knows who else all coming out and advising pregnant women to get their jab still won’t trump the idiots who think ‘bUt iTS NoT pRovEN sAfE yEt’ and therefore think their 20 mins of googling counts as ‘research’ and won’t get it.

Anyone with half a brain cell would get the jab, but sadly, having half a brain cell isn’t a prerequisite for getting pregnant

I don't think that 'half a brain cell' comment was entirely necessary. There are many reasons why someone may choose to not get the vaccine, i.e. allergy, religion, personal choice etc.

I, for example, am choosing to not get vaccinated until baby is here. I am not an anti-vaxxer by any means, I am very PRO vaccine and I will definitely be getting the vaccine as soon as baby is here. I personally feel like I haven't seen enough solid evidence to prove that there are no long term effects etc on this particular vaccine, and therefore I am choosing to wait. (I haven't been googling, I have been speaking to medical professionals, my midwife and my GP are both suggesting I wait - so I will go on their guidance, not some article on the internet). Once entering the 3rd trimester I will be shielding and WFH.

This is my personal choice and a choice I have made based on the guidance from my own medical advisories. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and choices, and that does not constitute that they only have 'half a brain cell'. That comment was rather rude and completely unnecessary.

@lillg

I'll have the jab when it's been tested on pregnant people and proven to be safe. (Or more likely once I'm no longer pregnant). Pregnant people were excluded from the clinical trials, as is usual. The Jab has only existed for 7 months, so those who had it early in their pregnancies are still pregnant. Adverse side effects may not be known about yet. 171 is a tiny number. There are over 700k births a year. It's a 0.04% chance of being hospitalized for covid while pregnant using those numbers. Those statistics are actually really helpful to me - but they help me make the opposite choice to what the article is trying to to. As an aside, it's disappointing that our "neutral" media is presenting such one sided arguments.

There is lots of evidence now to show that it's safe in pregnancy, as women have become pregnant during the trials with no adverse effects identified. Is that good enough for you?

@bongbigboobingbongbing wtf I have to get a pet cat now?! 😂 seriously though why are people getting their knickers in a twist? The OP was posting her opinion based on an article (and possibly other information she has read). Do we really now have to start every MN post with ‘everyone is entitled to take this advice or not, but this is my opinion’ because to be honest, I think that’s a given!

I'll have the jab when it's been tested on pregnant people and proven to be safe.

This type of comment always annoys me. How do you propose that they test it? I also don’t understand why you have used the term “pregnant people” and not “pregnant women”.

@thenakedmolerat

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

"Shameless propaganda"? How would you like these type of stats to be reported? Or should they just not be so that pregnant women have no info at all to base their decisions on?

How many of those 171 had underlying conditions/were obese?

Here is the guidance from the Royal College of Midwives if anyone is interested.
www.rcm.org.uk/vaccine-facts/

I know normal clinical trials do not let pregnant people take part - that's why I said "as is usual" and I think that's perfectly right and proper.
However you are wrong that no clinical trials will let pregnant people take part in them - many medical treatments are tested on and proven safe for pregnant people, but this is understandably not their first priority and normally done much later than the initial trials.

No I'm not volunteering, either in official clinical trials or in the current - give everyone a jab and watch to see what happens - approach. And I think it's awful to try and make me feel guilty for that, thats how medicine works. My previous pregnancies have ended in very late miscarriage and I will not be taking any risks. I've not asked anyone else to take part in trials and am happy to remain unvaccinated given the statistics above and risk I run.

I'm pretty sure they do not have the data the vaccine is safe (happy to be proven wrong on that though if you can share evidence). I'm pretty sure they have no data to suggest it's not safe. A small but important difference.

@Schrutesbeets

How many of those 171 had underlying conditions/were obese?

Being pregnant alone puts a strain on your body and all your organs. You could say that being pregnant is the underlying condition. Add in a bad case of CV (no one can predict how each individual reacts to the virus) and you have potential for harm above what you would have when not pregnant.

A lot of these arguments remind me of the swine flu epidemic. I can remember being worried about having that vaccination at the time (I was pregnant). In the end I decided to trust my dr and have it and I am glad I did.

This is a blog from an ICU surgeon.

www.nomoresurgeons.com/post/past-the-peak?postId=30472868-26ad-4dbb-9b6c-4e90a4ca85a7

Over the past month we have seen a surprising number of pregnant patients become unwell due to COVID-19 and require admission to hospital. Pregnancy causes complicated changes to your immune system and we know that pregnancy increases the likelihood of developing serious complications following many viral infections, including COVID-19. Unfortunately, the vaccine uptake amongst pregnant women is not what it should be and so we are seeing more and more pregnant patients.

Currently, 95% of all pregnant women who are admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. Pregnant women with severe COVID pneumonitis are at greatly increased risk of stillbirth or premature delivery and I would urge all pregnant women to take up the offer of vaccination.

Facts are facts. The Delta variant is risky to pregnant women.
The national childbirth Trust recommends pregnant women get the jab. Anti vax will flood with misinformation. Listen to the royal college of midwifery and other experts , don't take risks with yourself and baby.

@Serenissima21

A lot of these arguments remind me of the swine flu epidemic. I can remember being worried about having that vaccination at the time (I was pregnant). In the end I decided to trust my dr and have it and I am glad I did.

Exactly, why would anyone listen to the anti vax lot or people who have other motivation.

I feel so sorry for the pregnant woman in intensive care, too late for some though.

@snowy0wl

I'll have the jab when it's been tested on pregnant people and proven to be safe.

This type of comment always annoys me. How do you propose that they test it? I also don’t understand why you have used the term “pregnant people” and not “pregnant women”.

Ok pregnant women. Saying pregnant people was not a consious choice, but I know it's controversial on here. People is still technically correct - women are people. But happy to be more specific if it makes you feel better.

I propose they test it in the same way they test everything else. I'm not suggesting they do anything different to any other medical treatment. Most medicine hasn't been tested on pregnant women and it is therefore recommended you don't take it. Why is this different?

I also, as I previously stated, am happy for them not to test it in pregnancy. I'll have my jab once I'm no longer pregnant. Not expecting anything from anyone. And also happy others make their own choices based on their own feelings.

For those who say people became pregnant in trials - I'd be really interested to see the numbers on this if you could share it. I've not been able to source any data. I've also not been able to source details of the research done monitoring babies born to women who had the vaccine during pregnancy - and what trimester they had the vaccine in. I know data has been collected as news articles refer to it. But I prefer to see the raw results rather than looking at articles.

@SW1amp

Sadly, OP, the RCOG, NHS, NMC and god knows who else all coming out and advising pregnant women to get their jab still won’t trump the idiots who think ‘bUt iTS NoT pRovEN sAfE yEt’ and therefore think their 20 mins of googling counts as ‘research’ and won’t get it.

Anyone with half a brain cell would get the jab, but sadly, having half a brain cell isn’t a prerequisite for getting pregnant

I don't think thats very fair. I've had both jags and am now pregnant. I am far from anti vax, I also have a science degree and now work in healthcare so very much understand the science and research that has went into ascertaining the safety of the vaccine. However having suffered 2 miscarriages and being on my 3rd pregnancy, I worry about everything; climbing the stairs in case it exerts me and causes another miscarriage. Bending down to pick something up in case it causes harm. I worry about everything, albeit irrationally. When you are facing the prospect of yet another miscarriage, sometimes fear takes over.

I don't think it's fair to say that pregnant women who don't get the jag are of limited intelligence, or have only half a brain cell. I completely understand peoples fears and so would anyone with half a brain cell understand the fears of pregnant women in relation to the vaccination.

@lillg I can't attach a photo. Someone below has posted a link to the RCM advice on vaccination in pregnancy. Within that is a link to the JCVI advice, and that contains the numbers on its first page. It's not just those in trials, but real time numbers from the US of women who have had the vaccine whilst pregnant.

Name calling regarding vaccines - whether you are pregnant or not - is nonsense.

As long as you've been given information (and ideally a chance to talk it over with your HCP) it must be up to the individual to decide.

I think it's a far harder choice than some people are crediting.

Anyone with half a brain cell would get the jab, but sadly, having half a brain cell isn’t a prerequisite for getting pregnant

I listened about a month ago to Radio 4 news program and a pg woman on there who'd wanted the vaccine and found offical advice said it was fine to have but couldn't get her GP or any local vaccine centers to give it to her - she was fed up being past around told one thing then getting to point of having it done to be told they weren't happy to do it.

She had to be really persistent to get the first jab so I think the comments above are pure ignorance.

I wonder if the news story is aimed wider than just pg women busy HCP and family members of pg women - I remember being given out dated advice from such souces in my pg.

@Sparklingbrook

I feel 'pregnant ladies' need to do their own research and speak to a RL HCP and then make their choice.

Very much agree with this.

I'm 16 weeks and I've had both jabs. I had the whooping cough and the flu jabs during my last pregnancy so why would I not take the opportunity to protect myself and the baby from one of the biggest current health risks.

If only the communication to pregnant women had been clearer from the start.

I'm pregnant and jabbed and tbh a bit surprised at some of the vaccine hesitancy I am encountering on online maternity groups I'm part of - I looked at the stats and the numbers already vaccinated and safely delivered in the US and it seemed clear. I think a different sort of campaign would be needed to reach those who are still undecided. Some of the discussion is "Oh, but what if something is wrong with baby down the line?" - how far down the line are people willing to wait? It's a hard line of reasoning to fight against.

[quote taliopolis]@lillg I can't attach a photo. Someone below has posted a link to the RCM advice on vaccination in pregnancy. Within that is a link to the JCVI advice, and that contains the numbers on its first page. It's not just those in trials, but real time numbers from the US of women who have had the vaccine whilst pregnant. [/quote]
Thanks.
From a quick look I can't see many numbers or much detail. I will look in more detail on my lunch break when I can look on the PC rather than my phone, as I may be missing it. It talks about "increased risk" etc but doesn't quantify it. It also doesn't tell me how many of those who have taken the vaccine have now given birth - something that I really want to know.

I've been advised by my midwife to try to have both jabs in the second trimester, which I'm now coming up to. So I'm trying to make my final decision now.

That decision would be much easier if I could see how many people (trials or otherwise) have had the jab in their second trimester and now had the baby with no issues.

Im overly defensive at times as I've had enough of people telling me I'm making uninformed decisions or being an anti vaxer or conspiracy theorist. I had a miscarriage at 20 weeks last year and I'm so anxious about something else going wrong. I just want to make a well informed sensible decision that is backed up by data and fact. I don't naturally trust people and like to see the data and studies rather than the opinionated articles. However all I can find is advice that uses really subjective terminology such and has a very definite bias one way or the other.

Isn’t uptake of the flu vaccine around 35-45% in pregnant women? I think it’s quite common for women to be vaccine hesitant during pregnancy.

A pregnant woman needs to make her own choice without some random on MN thinking that they can be the authority of what every pregnant woman should you. You're not. What's made you the authority?

While i agree pregnant women need to make their own choice, to be fair to the OP she has linked to an article quoting England chief midwife, a researcher from Oxford university, and the president of the royal college of obstetricians and gynaecologists. So she’s not presented it as just her opinion.

I had my first jab at 37 weeks pregnant and I’ve recently had my second, post birth.

During pregnancy I caught a stomach bug, and a bad cold. Both took a horrendous toll on my body, I had days of high temperatures, high heart rates and barely able to move from bed. One instance caused me to be admitted to triage for monitoring and fluids, and both bugs caused some distress with my unborn baby (high foetal heart rate). Normally I have a fairly robust immune system and fight bugs off within a day or two. During pregnancy I just didn’t have the reserves and was so, so poorly.

And these were standard bugs that fly around every year. No way was I taking a chance with covid. I’d have happily had both jabs early in my pregnancy if I could, but I wasn’t allowed.