Pregnancy is usually a time of excitement and joyous anticipation for women. However, COVID-19 raises a few concerns. Will you and your baby be at risk if you take the COVID vaccine? Is it beneficial in any way? This article is going to answer these questions.
Pregnant women have been, historically, excluded from most of the vaccine and drug trials in the past, This has resulted in them being denied beneficial preventive and therapeutic measures, or if they’re lucky they’re allowed to receive them after their non-pregnant counterparts.
A brief history of vaccines and pregnancies
Unfortunately, this is a practice that continued even in the COVID-19 pandemic. In the initial stages of the vaccine process, only a small group of women who got pregnant after the vaccine or didn’t know they were pregnant during the vaccination were allowed to take the shots. Fortunately, it has now been confirmed that it’s safe for pregnant women to take the COVID vaccination shots. This is based on the real-world evidence that has been collected from different countries all across the globe.
Studies have shown that pregnant women share the same side effects with their non-pregnant counterparts once after they’ve taken the vaccination. In fact, it even has some benefits that come with it.
Here are some of the benefits.
1. Boosts Immunity
It doesn’t matter what stage you are in your pregnancy, you can still take the vaccine and it’ll still protect you from the severe, and even fatal, COVID-19 symptoms. In simpler terms, it can still protect you from the severity of the disease.
2. Prevents Spread Of The Disease
It’ll help prevent you from spreading it to other pregnant and non-pregnant people. The COVID-19 vaccine weakens the diseases meaning that it won’t spread as rapidly as it does among unvaccinated people. For pregnant women, this is advantageous since it won’t threaten their health and that of their unborn child.
3. Increases The Number Of Vaccinated People
It’ll help ensure that one more person in the community is protected from getting the coronavirus to bring the inoculation numbers up. This reduces the contribution to herd community and makes it harder for it to spread.
4. Reduces Mutation Of The Disease
It helps prevent the disease from replicating and spreading. This helps ensure that virus doesn’t mutate and become something more resistant to vaccines. As we’ve witnessed, the disease is currently mutating at a fast rate. If people get the vaccine, this will help reduce the mutation making it easy to contain the disease and eradicate it eventually.
5. Protects Future Generations
The COVID-19 vaccine helps ensure the safety of the future generation by helping keep the mother alive. Mothers are the cornerstone of society. Therefore, it’s important for childbearing women to stay safe in order to continue the generation. The vaccines will also help build the immunity of future children making them more resistant to the disease.
6. Promotes Healthy Pregnancy
It reduces the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes that may be caused by the virus. Diseases can lead to pregnancy complications such as premature birth and deformities. Getting vaccinated as a pregnant woman ensures that your unborn child develops in a healthy way. It also boosts the child’s immunity since they will receive the vaccine antibodies from the mother. 8 Causes Of A Miscarriage
7. Reduces Risk Of Stillbirth
Lastly, it helps reduce the risk of stillbirth due to COVID-19. As mentioned, life-threatening diseases can cause complications during pregnancy. One of the risks pregnant women face is stillbirth. Due to weakened immunity, the life of the unborn child is threatened when the mother falls sick.
Possible side effects from the vaccine during pregnancy
All vaccinations and medications have some side effects. However, if you do happen to experience any side effects caused by the vaccine shots, they’re normally temporary and minor. Much like most of the other vaccines out there, coronavirus vaccination shots do the same things to pregnant women as they do to non-pregnant ones.
Pregnant women who’ve got pre-existing medical conditions, are overweight, and are older might be at a higher risk of getting severe COVID symptoms. They should be aware of the rare risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) and should consult their gynaecologist or physician before getting the vaccine.
If you’re pregnant and you’re worried about whether the COVID-19 vaccine is safe to take, don’t be. Not only is it safe but it could end up saving both you and your baby’s lives. It has benefits as you can see. Hopefully, now you can finally go get that jab.
Check out 8 Myths About The COVID-19 Vaccine You Shouldn’t Believe
