Covid Vaccination is SAFE For Pregnant Women (Updated Info)
Today’s Medium article will address the misinterpretation of old data from Sept 2020 & April 2021, where the data was correct at that time, up until now where many retired (yes I know) medical people on social media mislead the general public. So without further ado, let’s get into today’s article.
➡️ The bad AND the ugly from Dr John Campbell
The once spectrum of good light now turned peddler of misinformation (unfortunately) tried to denote there was an update of pregnant information regarding vaccination on the JCVI website, stating it was “new” info when it was a Press Release from April last year and from a company that no longer exists. (Screenshot for proof below)
➡️ Current Info On Vaccination for Pregnancy
The Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists, Royal College of Midwives, UK Teratology Information Service & MacDonald Obstetric Medicine Society made a joint PDF leaflet [1] with high transparency of information detailing why it’s recommended for pregnant women to receive a Covid-19 vaccination, but the choice as it quite rightly states in the informed PDF that the right remains with the mother. Information was last updated in May 2022, so very recent.
The Oxford Population Health [2] made an evidence-based science article detailing robust outcomes from 3 studies coordinated by NPEU: The UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS), the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit (BPSU) study of neonatal complications of COVID-19, and the MBRRACE-UK.
Quote from the article:
“The data from these studies shows that during the Delta COVID-19 wave (16 May 2021 to 31 October 2021):
- 1436 pregnant women were admitted to hospital with symptomatic COVID-19, of whom 230 (16%) were admitted to intensive care.
- 17 (1%) pregnant and postnatal women died from COVID-19 (5.4 per 100,000 live births). In comparison, 10 women died during the Alpha period (3.2 per 100,000 live births) and 7 women died during the pre-Alpha ‘wild-type’ period (1.4 per 100,000 live births).
- Four babies admitted to neonatal units died from COVID-19 (1.3 per 100,000 live births).
- COVID-19 infection resulted in worse pregnancy outcomes. Of the hospitalised women, 19% had a preterm birth, 2% had a pregnancy loss, and 2% gave birth to a stillborn baby.
- Almost all (96%) of the pregnant women admitted to hospital were unvaccinated. Of those admitted to intensive care, 98% were unvaccinated.”
The above shows why it’s absolutely detrimental for pregnant women to look at evidence-based information to make informed conclusions about themselves and their newborns, especially with the data above. Furthermore, each surveillance report [3] about Covid-19 vaccines comes out each week, it demonstrates the safety and effectiveness of everyone, including pregnant women.
References:
[1] https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/news/2194-pregnant-women-now-a-priority-group-for-covid-19-vaccination
[2] https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/news/2194-pregnant-women-now-a-priority-group-for-covid-19-vaccination
[3] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1101870/vaccine-surveillance-report-week-35.pdf
➡️ Meta-analysis study
A meta-analysis study published in the Nature science journal [1] looks at the effectiveness and perinatal outcomes of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy, the study found that the effectiveness of mRNA vaccination against RT-PCR confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection 7 days after the second dose was 89.5%, still very good protection for pregnant women, in positive news, there was a 15% decrease in the odds of stillbirth that was associated with vaccination (vs. no vaccination) in pregnancy.
The above information is very crucial when having a risk vs benefit analysis in vaccination, it quite clearly shows there’s little risk vs no vaccination against Covid-19 and the benefits are easily shown.
Reference:
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30052-w?s=09#Sec10
➡️ Conclusion
As we can see from the above, it’s better to have an informed conclusion than listen to those that do not understand the data, articles and information they read. Always stick to the correct science, I know it’s not easy but there are plenty of evidence-based aspects out there, or if not, just ask your midwife.
💥 Thanks for reading, Lawrence. Please consider a small contribution, in the form of a beer as all articles are created in my small amount of spare time: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LawrenceRob