Yuen: Have pregnant women say “yes” with the COVID-19 vaccine

Maggie Price has not been involved in a devastating disinformation campaign about the COVID-19 vaccine since mid-pregnancy.She wasn’t targeted False conspiracy theory It suggests that “peplomers” from the virus can bind to the ovaries and cause infertility and birth defects.

She also shot a prominent anti-vaxxer “Globalist and depopulating eugenics, Satanists allegedly trying to destroy the world. (This is also not very true.)

Delano Price lived her life as a busy mom and business owner during the pandemic. Having a hard time keeping up with the latest research, she was trying to protect the growing baby in her. She and her family (including toddlers and sophomore twins) enthusiastically washed their hands, put on masks, and did everything we were told to protect us from the coronavirus.

However, Price was still reluctant to get the vaccine.

“Whatever you put in your body, you’re thinking more than you have than if you weren’t pregnant,” she said. “My first hesitation is that if I don’t have to do it and we can keep it safe, it’s an ideal scenario. As a pregnant woman, you and your foetation Try to make the best choice for. “

Then, this summer, when the Delta variant began to spread like a kudzu, her thoughts wandered at the beginning of the school year. She knew that the children were probably in an unmasked classroom with their classmates. Her family already suffered from COVID-19 as a result of school exposure last year and she did not want to risk another seizure with this illness.

Price also put on a ventilator, or was forced to give birth early to a pregnant patient infected with the virus. Lost a life.. The COVID-19 vaccination rate for pregnant mothers is surprisingly low. One-third of pregnant people I got a shot.

So Price did something sadly less common these days: she talked to her doctor.

A few weeks before the date of birth, she brought questions and concerns to obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Juelia Wagner at regular prenatal examinations. The same doctor who gave birth to Price’s twins eight years ago.

“I completely trust her 100%,” said Price, admitting that not everyone is lucky to have access to quality medical care and a long-standing relationship with doctors. “That’s all I needed. She nodded,’What you’re seeing is real, I’ve experienced it first hand, and research shows. [the vaccine] Safe and effective for pregnant women. “” “”

The conversation, in which Price and her alumnus weighed the pros and cons of vaccination, took less than 10 minutes. After all, Price was convinced that the risk of developing COVID-19 during pregnancy far outweighed the shortcomings of firing. That same day she promised to be vaccinated.

You should not look down on the expecting mom as uncertain about the vaccine. In the early days of the pandemic, like Price, we simply wanted more data to study the potential effects on pregnant people.As standard in clinical trials, the first vaccine studies deliberately excluded them, and as a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said pregnant people. “May choose vaccination” But at first I didn’t recommend it.

However, new studies show that vaccines do not increase the risk of miscarriage or infertility. In August, CDC provided full support For pregnant people to get the vaccine.And last month it was The strongest guidance ever If you are pregnant, High risk of getting seriously ill.. According to authorities, about 97% of infected pregnant women who were hospitalized for either illness or delivery or childbirth were unvaccinated.

Price’s doctor, Wagner, said he spends a considerable amount of time counseling patients about vaccines at clinics Sophia in Edina and Maple Grove. She explains to them the studies that proved their safety and combines the studies with what she sees in her own practice. If her patient is still uncertain, she gives them time to think about it and says the choice must ultimately come from them.

“In the long run, we hope we can get back to that trust problem. If you don’t believe in one doctor, go to another doctor and then another,” she says. I did. “That’s the great thing about the American healthcare system. You can get multiple opinions.”

However, the provider of false alarms for vaccines Especially on the internetPreys on those who are trying to become pregnant and only want to have children, or those who are already pregnant and only want to have a safe and healthy baby.

“What a wonderful goal,” Wagner said. “What a great horror.”

Price had been fully vaccinated by the end of September to give birth to a healthy girl. “There are no side effects,” she said of the vaccine.

Among her clients — Price is an interior designer — she knows many women who are affiliated with the “wellness” community who remain skeptical of vaccination. And while some in her conservative counties have been booked to allow her to get a jab, she’s shy to raise her hand and say she was vaccinated during pregnancy. It wasn’t.

And what is the most reassuring part of all that? Among what can be considered a mother’s protection, she gave her newborn daughter an antibody to fight COVID.

“She’s perfect,” Price said.

(Read an interview with Dr. Nipny Rajapakse, a Mayo Clinic physician specializing in pediatric infectious diseases, including COVID-19.)