Would you fly unvaccinated and 20 weeks pregnant?

[Velvetscrunchy]

Exactly what the subject says. I’m considering going abroad for a few weeks to visit family, and it’s only a 2 hour flight. My midwife has said it’s fine but everyone keeps scaring me with talks of Covid and the dangers of travel etc. Would you?

Also to pps, I don’t know if it was pregnancy related but I was offered my second jab well before 8 weeks after the first.

I flew at 17 weeks and was perfectly fine but back then the flight and the airport were practically empty.

It's a No from me as well @Velvetscrunchy. Our maternity and Covid wards are overrun by unvaccinated pregnant women. Pregnancy already puts stress on the lungs so the effects of Covid can be severe. Some women have had to be induced/put on ventilation.

Please prioritise your health and pregnancy and get vaccinated @Velvetscrunchy.

@TooBigForMyBoots

It's a No from me as well *@Velvetscrunchy*. Our maternity and Covid wards are overrun by unvaccinated pregnant women. Pregnancy already puts stress on the lungs so the effects of Covid can be severe. Some women have had to be induced/put on ventilation.

Please prioritise your health and pregnancy and get vaccinated @Velvetscrunchy.

You’re very right. I do need to and will prioritise the vaccination.

Definitely not. I’m vaccinated and not pregnant and still wouldn’t travel right now unless it was essential. I read somewhere as well that there’s a growing number of unvaccinated pregnant women in intensive care with covid at the moment. Not worth the risk.

@MiddleParking isn’t that cutting it a bit fine!? If you caught covid over there and had to recover and quarantine abroad then you might be too heavily pregnant for the airline to allow you to fly back?!

Yes I would

Absolutely not. I’ve felt very relaxed throughout COVID, having had a mild dose myself, but I’ve had 2 pregnant friends who were hospitalised with COVID so no way would I take the chance if I was pregnant.

Nope, I'm double vaccinated and in 2nd trimester and I only felt comfortable to fly last week with an FFP3 mask the whole way (2hr flight) and thankfully the plane was less than a third full, and it was an airline that still mandates mask wearing for all passengers >16.

Would not even contemplate getting on a plane unless I'd had 2 doses

[quote Summerfun54321]@MiddleParking isn’t that cutting it a bit fine!? If you caught covid over there and had to recover and quarantine abroad then you might be too heavily pregnant for the airline to allow you to fly back?![/quote]
Possibly. There’s not much you can do these days that doesn’t have potential to cause a massive ballache if you test positive, but that’s still pretty unlikely when you’re double jabbed. Even then it would only put me at just over 36 weeks after quarantine if I tested positive on the very last day. I fancy my chances of all being well.

I’d get my first dose of vaccine and go

In a word - no.

Absolutely not, I’ve heard heartbreaking things about unvaccinated women ill with Covid needing to be delivered before viability to save their own life. I can’t imagine going though that especially not in your home country.
Perhaps after one jab if it were for an emergency / really compelling family reason, but with cases so high at the moment I would be pretty much shielding if I were 20weeks and unvaccinated.

My unvaccinated SIL got covid whilst pregnant and it very nearly killed her, and she has still not recovered. She was in a coma, ventilated for over a month, and she has suffered very serious complications. Her heart and lungs have been severely damaged. This was a very healthy woman who's only underlying condition was being pregnant.

I wouldn't even consider traveling if I were you and I would be very seriously questioning my midwife's judgment.

No way. Recycled air circulating.

I travelled at 28wks preg in May after my first covid jab. This was back when the travel restrictions first lifted and cases were quite low so we decided to head to Portugal for a week (that was the only viable green list option at the time). My husband and I were frequent travellers before the pandemic and after 14 months of no travel and with a baby coming I was desperate for a break. We weighed the risks and took plenty of precautionary measures (frequent sanitizing, wearing masks in public spaces etc) during our travel and during our time in Portugal. Funnily enough I felt a lot safer there than in the UK at the time given how strict covid measures were there. I personally don't regret travelling one bit. I was mentally exhausted with the series of lockdowns and this break really helped me. Ideally I would have liked to be fully vaccinated then but one jab was better than none and that put my mind at a bit of ease. If you really need to travel I would suggest getting vaccinated first given how high the cases currently are.
Also FYI, I needed a Fit to fly certificate from my GP post 28wks to fly with Ryan AAir. Other airlines may ask for the same.

Absolutely not. I wouldn’t want to entrust myself and my baby to an intensive care abroad if anything went wrong and I got severe covid.

I’d want to be in the UK where my family and I understand the health care system and are readily able to advocate for me should I need it.

Not a hope in hell! I'm fully vaccinated and know that flying and the whole airport experience increase the risks enormously!

Keep in mind that Test & Trace will request the whole flight to self isolate if one person tests positive on the way home. Rules are changing from 16th August for the double jabbed though who can avoid self isolation.
I was requested to self isolate after my flight (I’m double jabbed so decided to go on holiday). However if you aren’t vaccinated and can’t afford to isolate I wouldn’t take the risk

I've travelled recently and the queues in both countries (I.e. check in and then passport control) were unlikely anything I've ever seen before. Airlines and passport control can't keep up, so much for them to check for each passenger. The plane itself felt fine but the airport time felt very uncomfortable from a covid perspective and I wouldn't want to be doing all that queuing if I was pregnant

The very state of being pregnant means you are temporarily immunosuppressed.
So absolutely not.

No way, it would be intentionally endangering the pregnancy, why would you do that ?

I would go.

I’m pregnant and flew recently during my second trimester, but am also double vaxxed. It wasn’t a holiday for me - it was to see all my family who all live in another country and who I’ve missed desperately throughout the pandemic. It was a short flight and wasn’t busy and it felt okay. But there is always a risk. I am happy I went but I wouldn’t have gone unvaccinated. And I wouldn’t choose to fly for a holiday at the moment. I can understand so well that you want to see your family but I would prioritise getting the vaccine. And hopefully you’d still be able to see your family after getting jabbed.

Not a chance. I wouldn’t fly at the moment and I’m double jabbed and not pregnant! Just far too much of a risk, planes are a hybrid for catching diseases at the best of times! Plus all the continued confusion about isolating etc. I can understand why you want to see family but not in your situation.