What Pregnant Women Should Know About COVIDs and Booster Shots

The entire San Francisco healthcare network has been asked questions about COVID-19 booster shots for pregnant people, city officials said this week.

But there is not much confusion.Health professionals clearly agree: women who are pregnant or are thinking of becoming pregnant should be vaccinated When You will receive a booster shot.

Monica Gandhi, Head of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said late pregnancy is an ideal time for pregnant women to get boosters.

“I recommend getting a booster in the second semester after the first semester. I want to protect the foetation when the placenta is fully formed so that the antibodies can cross.” Said Gandhi. “It’s also a good time because it’s a time when pregnant women are more immunosuppressed.”

Dr. Navena Boba, Deputy Director of Health in San Francisco, said in a hearing on Tuesday that pregnant people fall into the high-risk category currently prioritized for booster shots in San Francisco. This group is traditionally considered high risk because the pregnant body immunosuppresses foreign antigens to protect the foetation.

“This is a known phenomenon. We always consider pregnant women to be immunosuppressed individuals,” Gandhi said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that COVID-19 vaccination be given to anyone over the age of 12 including pregnant, lactating, currently pregnant, or potentially pregnant. doing. However, there is no official guidance on when to administer boosters.

For individuals vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson, health professionals, including Gandhi, recommend vaccination with Moderna or Pfizer shots, which contain mRNA and have been shown to produce more antibodies. However, the CDC has not yet released official guidance on vaccine mixing and matching. However, many studies have shown some adverse effects associated with obtaining different booster shots from an individual’s first vaccination series.

Most experts agree that booster shots are a good idea for pregnant people, especially those in areas with high infection rates, but there is some variability in the exact time when boosters should be administered. ..

“The sooner you get a booster, the better. Early boosters mean less likely breakthroughs and reduce the risk of preterm and preterm birth,” said the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Infectious Diseases and Health. Professor Peter Chin Hong said.

Recent big study Researchers at UCSF have shown that the risk of very preterm birth occurring less than 32 weeks gestation is 60% higher in people infected with COVID-19 at some point during pregnancy.

Studies have shown that the risk of preterm birth is up to 160% higher for pregnant individuals with other underlying health conditions, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

“As a pediatrician, I’m always a little worried about the extras that don’t need to progress during pregnancy, but this is definitely one of the things that needs to progress,” said Dr. George Rutherford, an infectious disease. Was a UCSF disease expert. “If you’re planning on getting pregnant, get a booster now.”

But there is another problem. Many pregnant women have not received the first shot. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 34% of pregnant individuals in the United States were vaccinated before or during pregnancy as of October 16.

Part of that hesitation is expected to lead to a flock of false information about the COVID-19 vaccine and childbirth over the past year.However No safety concerns According to the CDC, it is associated with vaccines and childbirth in pregnancy. “It has nothing to do with infertility,” Gandhi said.

“The elephants in the room aren’t as much about boosters as the first vaccination of a pregnant person,” Shin Hong said. “The first vaccine is the most important.”

Still, boosters for pregnant women are easy, Chin Hong said. In fact, vaccinated mothers can infect their fetuses with antibodies that fight the COVID-19 virus through the bloodstream and through breastfeeding after childbirth.

“Everyone who sees this virus believes that pregnancy is a good condition for booster shots,” Chin Hong said. “The vaccine is not a living virus, so I’m not worried about giving it at any time during pregnancy.”

Research is currently underway to investigate the efficacy of the vaccine and its effects on children aged 2 to 5 and babies aged 6 months to 2 years. Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is only approved for children up to 12 years of age, and regulatory agencies will approve the vaccine for children 5 to 11 years of age in the coming weeks.

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