Many women find it scary to get vaccinated when you’re pregnant. After all, it is not only about your own body, but also that of your child. Nevertheless, vaccination is safe for mother and child. Neonatologist Manon Benders and professor of obstetrics Kitty Bloemenkamp of UMC Utrecht explain why. And a mother who got COVID-19 tells her story.
“Pregnants probably have some fear about a vaccination. That is understandable. At the beginning of the corona pandemic, much was still unclear, but in the meantime we know that vaccination of pregnant women is effective and safe. A serious course of disease, ICU admission of the mother and premature birth can often be prevented with a vaccination,” explains professor of obstetrics Kitty Bloemenkamp of UMC Utrecht.
Call from a mother with COVID
A nightmare for expectant mothers became reality for this mother at UMC Utrecht. During the pregnancy she became infected with corona and became seriously ill. So sick, in fact, that she was admitted to intensive care. The healthy baby in her tummy was born via emergency cesarean section at 26 weeks. With all the medical risks and complications for such a premature baby as a result. Those are things she hadn’t thought about before. Even though her midwife had advised her to get vaccinated, she hadn’t. “I regret that,” she says now. “But I just thought it was really scary. It is not only about you, but also about your child. The messages on social media made me anxious.” Fortunately, things are better now and her premature child has passed the most critical phase. Her appeal is therefore: “Listen to doctors. They know what they are talking about. They see the consequences. Not the outside world. So if they advise: take the vaccine, that’s right. Please do it!”
In news hour this mother speaks in more detail.
At her request, she remains anonymous, her name is known to the editors.
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US research: effective and safe
In a large American study last year, 90 thousand pregnant women were vaccinated with the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. This shows that vaccination during pregnancy is effective and safe, with no obvious side effects. In the Netherlands we are following the results of this research. That is why all pregnant women in the Netherlands can safely have an mRNA vaccine as soon as they qualify. That’s the advice of Ministry of VWS and the professional associations of the NVOG and KNOV, and the national working group Covid and pregnancy, of which Kitty Bloemenkamp is a member.
“At first we were cautious because there was no data to tell us whether it was safe for them to take a shot. Now hundreds of thousands of women have been vaccinated without significant side effects. This in combination with the to investigate showing that some really more seriously ill become, endorses us advice that pregnant women should take a shot”, said Kitty Bloemenkamp. “Of course it is true that we do not know the long-term effects, but it is not within the expectation that we expect anything from that given the content of the vaccine.
As caregivers we want the best for mother and child
In an mRNA vaccine, the vaccine with a fat globule is injected into the body. The body develops antibodies against corona, according to Prof. Christianne de Groot, Amsterdam UMC. After that, the vaccine disappears from the body again. So it is safe in the short term. And the long-term expectation is also that the vaccine is safe for women and children. “The fear of vaccination is of course a fear that the vaccine is bad for your child. However, premature birth as a result of corona, which means that the pregnancy has to be terminated, that is really unsafe for your child,” neonatologist Manon Benders of the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital said in a statement yesterday. TV program Nieuwsuur. “As caregivers, we want the best for mother and child. That is why we say in every conversation: get vaccinated if you are pregnant.”
Pregnancy and corona
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