When the pandemic began, many of my patients understandably postponed a pregnancy because of fear.
When the pandemic began, many of my patients understandably postponed a pregnancy because of fear. There were many questions regarding COVID-19: How lethal it could be, how infectious, or if it could cause birth defects to babies born to mothers who had been exposed to COVID-19 during pregnancy. As we are now entering our third year since COVID-19 was discovered and for all of those who were hoping that this event was going to be short-lived, we have now moved on to find a way to continue our lives co-existing with it. This includes those who no longer want to delay a pregnancy and are now faced with the choice whether to vaccinate or not.
To make the best choice one needs to weigh the benefits and the risks of that decision. We know that most, if not all, infectious respiratory disorders tend to manifest more severely in a pregnant woman than in a non-pregnant one and we now know that COVID-19 is no exception. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that pregnant or recently pregnant women are at an increased risk of a severe COVID-19 illness, preterm birth, and stillbirth. We have good data on the potential harm that this virus can cause during pregnancy.
I have seen firsthand several of my patients suffer the consequences of COVID-19. I’ve had patients lose their pregnancies to COVID. I’ve had patients sick enough to either go into premature labor because of the virus or be induced before their due date to allow our team to care for the mother. Consequently, babies have spent weeks in the NICU. I have seen the parents of these babies fret about the health of their newborns.
The answer is to get vaccinated. The vaccine is not only safe but also very effective. Think of the vaccine as a seatbelt. Seatbelts do not prevent car accidents, but they keep you alive if you get into one. Likewise, you can still get COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine, but you are much more likely to survive if you do.
The technology that drives the mRNA vaccine is amazing. It provides our bodies the code to manufacture a small piece of the virus so our immune system can understand how to best fight it. This message does not enter the nucleus and does not alter a patient’s DNA. And the message is very specific, so it does no harm to a pregnant woman. The safety and efficacy profile of the vaccine for pregnant patients is very similar to non-pregnant ones. The vaccine has now been around for over a year and tens of thousands of doses in pregnant patients have given us insight into how safe it is. The data shows that the background rate of major pregnancy-related complications is very similar in the vaccinated than in the unvaccinated population. The difference is that non-vaccinated women run a higher risk of COVID-19 related complications.
Put another way -- bad things that can happen during pregnancy do so with the same frequency whether that mother is vaccinated or not. For example, miscarriage typically occurs in about 11-16% of pregnancies, and data found miscarriage rates after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine were around 13%, similar to the expected rate of miscarriage in the general population.
We are on our third year co-existing with this virus, and I don’t believe it is going away any time soon. The vaccine has been around for over a year and tens of thousands of doses during pregnancy are testament on how safe it is. Vaccines are readily available at no cost, so for both mom and baby, please consider getting a COVID-19 vaccine if you are pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant soon.
Dr. Guillermo Guzman, MD is an OB/GYN at Birkeland Maternity Center at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center - Nampa