to take covid vaccine or not?

[Alizeex]

I'm very struggling whether to take the vaccine or not, particularly given that there is not enough evidence for pregnancy. On the other hand, I'm quite concerned if I caught it near due date in October (autumn/winter!) which can be very dangerous to the newborn and me.
It's hard to weigh up the risks on both hands and make right decisions. Can anyone give me some advice :( please thank you

I would say it's personal preference and what you feel comfortable with, contact your GP and/or midwife and get some advice from them.
I personally decided not to get mine, personally there wasn't enough information for me to get behind. I miscarried in January whilst having COVID at the same time so I didn't want to introduce any foreign body not fully knowing the implications.
I work for the NHS and work in the hospital so I'm hoping to start my maternity leave in September before the flu season starts. I'm due November 17th xx

As my obstetrician said “there’s no proven risks with the vaccine, but it’s not been proved safe either in pregnancy”
Personal choice OP

I am 37+4 at the minute and have chosen to wait based on advice from two midwives and a consultant.

Best to get some protection before the third trimester if you can, and remember it takes several weeks to build immunity after your first jab.

I took mine at 19 and 22 weeks. We were living in America and I spoke with my OB, a high risk
OB and my friend who is an OB here. Take a look at babiesover35 and unbiasedscipod on Instagram. X

I had my second vaccine today, I’m 24 weeks. I used the RCOG guidelines to help me make a decision: www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/2021-02-24-combined-info-sheet-and-decision-aid.pdf

I’ve 35 weeks and I’m double jabbed. Over 100,000 pregnant women have been jabbed now of which most babies have been born with no adverse reaction.
The vaccination doesn’t cross the placenta but the antibodies do so it’ll give babe protection too.
Pregnant women in their third trimester are at a much higher risk of needing hospital care, having a still born and or going into premature labour.
It’s a really tough decision as I was in tears all the way in the queue to my first jab but I feel so much better now me and baby are protected given that cases are going through the roof.
Xx

Unfortunately only you can decide what is best for you. You will get so many opinions and information thrown at you.

I decided against having it. Not worried about catching covid either and will just get on with life as normal. I've not been asked if I've considered having it by any of the midwives or consultants that I've seen in this pregnancy, they have only asked about flu (declined that one) and whooping cough (I had at 26wk).

I've chosen to have both jabs.

If you have time, the MP Stella Creasy did a long webinar about the risks of catching COVID while pregnant and the vaccine. She spoke to a lot of experts in the field. It explores and addresses a lot of concerns pregnant women have:

For me, the known risk of COVID outweighed the hypothetical risk of the vaccine.

Personal choice. I had my first jab at 26 weeks. I’m asthmatic and have a history of struggling with respiratory viruses (otherwise very slim and healthy, so no other risk factors). I had COVID in the first wave and it did not go well. Had I been pregnant at that time I hate to think what might have happened (exposing a fetus to a fever of 38-40 degrees and low oxygen saturation for a fortnight seems like a bad idea to me). So I weighed up the risks of a vaccine that so far seems to be safe against the risks of a virus that, over a year ago — so long enough for my immunity to have waned — was pretty serious for me specifically.
You might have a strong immune system that would handle COVID far better: statistically that’s likely. I might have made a different decision in your shoes, or I might have been spooked by the evidence from Ireland and elsewhere that in rare cases COVID and/or the immune response to COVID can directly affect the placenta. It’s a really, really hard choice, and I’m not always sure I made the right one. But we can only do our best.

[quote Tibtab]I had my second vaccine today, I’m 24 weeks. I used the RCOG guidelines to help me make a decision: www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/2021-02-24-combined-info-sheet-and-decision-aid.pdf[/quote]
OP definitely check this out. You are overthinking this, just get the jabs.

I never understand when people say its a personal choice. I'm not the one with the medical degree and I hate that doctors don't tell you to do it or not: simply becouse they don't know. So of course you are struggling with this, I did it too.
I only took my first after 12 weeks. While here in the UK they vaccine before, other countries only after 12 weeks.( I'm from Central Europe and my doctor was shocked there when I told him in England they vaccinate before 12 weeks based on "personal choice".)
I will get my second in the late second trimester. I won't start my third before being fully vaccinated as it can cause a lot of issues if you have a Covid later in pregnancy.
I think the second trimester is the safest.

Do your research and do what's best for you im 26 weeks now and had covid last week it lasted around 10 days and was just like a common cold , for me the safety isn't there and I've had covid twice now pregnant and not pregnant and it's been no more than a cough and this time like a cold, babies might be born safe but there's nothing to say it doesn't cause autism speech problems down etc the line. I did ivf and the consultants told me I wasn't allowed to have ivf for 3 months if I wanted the vaccine and that they don't recommend it while pregnant. Do your own research into numbers etc of how it affects pregnancy and have a good think.

I'm a scientist who works in new drug research and would but very cautious about a new drug in pregnancy, but a vaccination is a very different thing. Essentially a biological RNA molecule in the case of moderna and pfizer. Your body then uses this to make spike protein and then immune system responds. Vaccines are extremely well understood, these particular ones have already been used extensively in the US in pregnancy. And none of the rest of the ingredients are new chemicals.
For me I would be putting my baby at far greater risk from Covid by not having the vaccine, especially with levels of infection as they were. I just had my second dose today (22w) of the pfizer and feel relieved.

I totally get being wary and wanting to think about it more, especially being pregnant, and of cause it is your personal choice. I don't think i have ever thought more carefully about a vaccination.

Plus the wonderful thing is the babies get some antibody protection from you if you are vaccinated.

there's nothing to say it doesn't cause autism speech problems down etc the line.

Vaccines do not cause autism. It has been comprehensively shown that the two are not linked. Please don't spread this misinformation.

I’m 37 weeks and not had it. For me there’s simply not enough data. Moderna are soon to start clinical trials to establish any impact on pregnant women and their unborn children, even though many pregnant women have had the Moderna vaccine already.

I’m by no means an “anti vaxxer”, such an annoying term being bandied about, I had the whooping cough polio tetanus diptheria jab earlier on to protect my unborn child. In fact had it twice in two years for two different pregnancies.
You don’t need to be a medical expert to make a decision that feels right for you and your body, whether that’s to get vaccinated or not.

@queenie273646 I second the fact that vaccinations causing autism is false and scaremongering. This myth has been debunked time and time again.

Also, the there is evidence that covid can cause very negative impacts to both mother and baby and as in very glad you and your baby are ok that has not been the case for everyone sadly

@EdgeOfACoin I was using an example they havnt done full trials on pregnant women so how can u say they wouldn't cause other problems that arnt visual ? They havnt finished the trails so how would you know it wouldn't cause autism just because other vaccines dont? I'm not scaremongering I'm just using an example , there are some risks extra risk of stillbirth etc but the figures are still lower than if you conceived via ivf and even then the figures are still low, I think there's been more scaremongering into pressuring people to get the vaccine headlines such as there's 4 times the amount of still birth etc when the figures are still extremely low, plus because there hasn't been years of research into it so there's no proven link between the two yet.

I had my first vaccine before I got pregnant, and am having the second one next week at 7 weeks.

Over 90,000 pregnant women have had it in the US, with no increase in adverse pregnancy outcomes. On the other hand, there are known risks to having COVID in the third trimester. In terms of possible long term effects, we don't know those for COVID during pregnancy any more than for the vaccine during pregnancy (if there are any long term risks for either), so that's not something that's weighing on my decision.

I didn’t get the vaccine. I only had a few weeks left of my pregnancy when the guidance changed, and I spent most of that time home alone anyway, so low risk of catching COVID. Might have been different if I was working in a busy office and relied on public transport to get there though.

@queenie273646 I think it's fair what you're saying - purely in terms of timescales - that we don't know for sure about any potential long term effects of the vaccine as babies grow into children and adults. What we do know though is that typically vaccines don't have long term effects, and while these vaccines are new, the science behind them isn't, so the risk is low.

Also, if you are talking about potential long term unknown effects of the vaccine, you also have to think about the potential long term unknown effects of having covid in-utero? Which by the same logic due to timescales we can't fully understand either, with less science to understand the level of risk.

They have done studies now to show that in babies who've mothers have been vaccinated, the babies have covid antibodies only, without having been exposed to the virus. Where in babies who's mothers have had covid in pregnancy, the babies have antibodies that show they have also had covid. So we don't know the long term effects of that either, particularly given instances of 'long covid' in the population and the recent statistics of how often this is affecting children.

One thing we can do in terms of actual knowledge is to compare the short term risks. Which is to compare the numbers of pregnant vaccinated women with good outcomes to the status quo, and also to acknowledge the additional risks to both mother and baby that covid, particularly in 3rd trimester, poses - including increased risks of stillbirth, premature labour, intensive care and maternal mortality.

Thank you so much for the advices. Considering the existing evidence of the use of the vaccinations and my situation, I decided to go ahead with the vaccine. I have just now had my first dose of Moderna (27wks) and the second dose will be done in 8 weeks(35wks- not sure if it's too late). Before the jab, the pharmacist asked me again and again "have you talked with your midwife or doctor, do they approve you to take it?" It makes me really anxious about my decision as my midwife and doctor always say it's my own choice, never give advices. Anyway, taking vaccination is far better than having covid near due date!

@EdgeOfACoin @queenie273646

Of course we don’t truly know the long term effects of the vaccine on pregnancy and we won’t for several years. But there are studies suggesting that having a prolonged fever (like the ones some people develop when they catch Covid without being vaccinated) during pregnancy can increase the risk of the baby developing autism, quite considerably.

Im 31 weeks and decided to wait. I have no underlying conditions. However, from about now I am going to be very cautious about mixing, return to online shopping and will generally be isolating to minimise the chance of catching covid. I will get jabbed as soon as baby is born. Hope all of you stay well whatever your decision.

There was an article by the BBC today trying to encourage vaccinations- but nothing has changed evidence wise and still nobody is willing to firmly recommend it as safe

I think it depends on your attitude towards risk really and personal circumstances

I’m 30 weeks now, haven’t had it (only got offered it 2 or 3 weeks ago) and won’t have time for 2 doses before birth now.

I work from home and we are now substantially reducing contact with others and sticking to strict social distancing. A few raised eyebrows from my friends this afternoon about that (they want DH to go to the pub with them and I’ve said not a good idea but they are welcome here where we can all test first, and we can distance far easier outside as garden here is huge)

For me, provided my inner circle of friends and family are respectful, and we all test and distance, I’m happy to be unvaccinated until September when the baby is here, it’s just going to be a different summer to normal

For others who have had it, their circs may be different to mine and they may have more exposure risk. I just couldn’t justify it in my head when I can take a lot of precautions very easily.

Think there’s no right or wrong answer really!