COVID and pregnancy

[cm1010]

I am 22 weeks pregnant and after coming in to close contact with someone COVID positive a couple of weeks ago (I didn’t catch it luckily) I have decided to get vaccinated. My boyfriend isn’t taking this virus seriously and thinks it’s not that bad, that if you get it won’t become that unwell and he doesn’t trust the vaccine. I understand it’s a new vaccine but I feel like he is putting his opinion ahead of the risk to me and my baby. We suffered a loss a couple of years ago and I thought he would want to do everything he could to keep us safe. Am I wrong to be extremely upset by this to the point I don’t even want to see him?

No you're not wrong, you're doing the best thing to protect you & your baby. Does he know how dangerous covid is in pregnancy?

I would feel the same. I am avoiding family members who aren't vaccinated. It's so tricky. The good news is that the data suggests that double vaccinated women who are pregnant don't get seriously ill enough to require hospitalisations as none have been admitted. However, it's only recently that there has been a real push for women to get vaccinated so those double vaccinated women are less in numbers than non vaccinated, but it looks promising.

COVID can be very bad in pregnancy, especially if someone catches it in the later stages and/or if they're not vaccinated. Getting vaccinated is almost certainly the safest choice for you and your baby.

A lot of people still seem to think of COVID as being "just a bit of flu". It's not. I've worked in healthcare during this pandemic. I've seen a lot of people die from this, many more left with long-term complications... It's not something you want to risk.

I wonder if your boyfriend has seen the latest data about COVID - the proportion of younger hospital admissions is increasing and there is widely available data about the rates of hospital admission, ICU admission, etc in pregnancy. If he's willing to look, you could show him that and see if it changes his mind about the risks.

I think I would be very disappointed in him if I were in your circumstances. Whether or not he gets the vaccine is up to him, but he should be taking this seriously and considering the safety of his family.

I think I’m right in saying that the vaccine protects the individual from getting severe symptoms if they do catch COVID but it doesn’t actually prevent you from catching it or passing it into someone else.
Therefore as long as you’re vaccinated, that’s the main thing. That will give you the protection.
Your bf being unvaccinated wouldn’t really make any difference to you. The best thing he can do to help protect you and baby is to (continue to be) cautious about his own socialising, distancing, hand washing, etc. To reduce the chance that he will catch the virus and bring it home to you.

I am not too fussed about him getting the vaccine if he doesn’t want it, it’s very difficult that he doesn’t believe the news and he thinks it’s all fake. I love him dearly but it’s very frustrating when he says ‘it’s the flu’ and that the statistics are ‘made up’ :( I have told him about real women who have caught covid in pregnancy and how they’ve suffered but his response is that ‘people can make things up’ I don’t know how to get him to understand that this isn’t fake!

Get him to volunteer in any nearby hospital and he'll find out the tragic reality of what covid can do :(