ILOILO City – Is it safe for pregnant women to be vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)?
Studies on pregnant women and anti-coronavirus vaccines were limited, according to Dr. Sharon Faith Pagunsan, an obstetrician-gynecologist (OB-GYNE) and infectious disease specialist in this city.
However, “wala sang may mga nakita nga teratogenic effects so far sa mga babies,” said Pagunsan.
Teratogens are substances that can cause or raise the risk for a birth defect in a baby after the pregnant woman is exposed to them.
“Ang mga nagbusong that time nga wala pa nabal-an nga nagabusong nga na-injection-an (sang COVID vaccine) kag sang pagbata nila, so far, daw wala pa man sang may nakita nga problema,” Pagunsan added.
Pagunsan is one of the resource persons of the Iloilo City government’s COVID vaccination campaign.
She said they recommend anti-COVID vaccines to pregnant women with comorbidities, high-risk pregnancy cases, and pregnant women who are frontliners “like for example, ang mga healthcare workers nga exposed sa mga COVID-19 patients.”
The Department of Health (DOH) has emphasized that pregnancy is not a contraindication to getting the COVID-19 vaccine, except for the Gamaleya COVID vaccine (Sputnik V) which shall not be administered to pregnant and breastfeeding populations.
DOH said pregnant women can get the vaccine with precaution, given that there is limited data from clinical studies. If a pregnant woman is part of a group recommended for vaccination, vaccination can be offered.
Pagunsan also said it is advised that qualified pregnant women should get the vaccine after the first trimester of pregnancy.
In the United States on Aug. 11, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (SCDC) released new data on the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant people and is recommending all people 12 years of age and older get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“CDC encourages all pregnant people or people who are thinking about becoming pregnant and those breastfeeding to get vaccinated to protect themselves from COVID-19,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. “The vaccines are safe and effective, and it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations as we face the highly transmissible Delta variant and see severe outcomes from COVID-19 among unvaccinated pregnant people.”
A new CDC analysis of current data from the v-safe pregnancy registry assessed vaccination early in pregnancy and did not find an increased risk of miscarriage among nearly 2,500 pregnant women who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine before 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Miscarriage typically occurs in about 11-16 percent of pregnancies, and this study found miscarriage rates after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine were around 13 percent, similar to the expected rate of miscarriage in the general population./PN