PREGNANCY AND THE COVID-19 VACCINES:

 PREGNANCY AND THE COVID-19 VACCINES:

These are the recommendations form the Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Canada ( SOGC): Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should be offered the COVID-19 vaccine at any time during pregnancy. 8-11% of pregnant women will require hospitalization if they are infected with COVID-19 and 2 to 4% require an ICU admission. If a pregnant woman has other risk factors like age>35, asthma, obesity, diabetes or high blood pressure their risk goes up. There is a risk of pre-term birth associated with COVID-19 infection. In other words, pregnant women have a greater risk of serious COVID-19 infections and complications than the general population. The mRNA vaccines do not enter the nucleus of the human cell or alter human DNA. They are not live viruses. The likelihood that these vaccines will harm pregnant women due to their pregnancy is very low. These vaccines may confer benefit to the newborn, reducing their risk of COVID-19 infection. Women who become pregnant after their first vaccine should get their second shot. Individuals who are planning a pregnancy should, if possible, complete the entire COVID-19 vaccination series to achieve maximum vaccine efficacy before the pregnancy. A DELAY IN THE SECOND SHOT? There is real world evidence that the mRNA vaccines ( Pfizer and Moderna) and the viral vector vaccine ( AstraZeneca) confer significant immunity right up until six months after the first shot. Future research may show that a second shot may not be required for up to a year after the first. These are great vaccines. All of the public health units in Ontario have been directed by the Ministry of Health to delay the second shot for four months due to this wide body of growing evidence. CAN WE GATHER AFTER BEING IMMUNIZED? Not yet. People outside of your household should not gather in your household without wearing a mask and keeping their distance and no greater than five can gather under these circumstances. This is because the vaccines are not 100 % effective. That means that there are some who have been vaccinated who are not immune who may have COVID-19 that is not symptomatic yet. And, the variants are still largely an unknown. If this variant enters your home from a vaccinated person it may spread to everyone in the home. It is likely that restrictions will be loosened in Canada once more people are immunized and we see a decline in the spread of the variant strains but not yet. More info to come. Enjoy your Sunday. Anne-Marie Please share For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/ And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here: https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-