Vaccines don’t harm pregnancies and may even help babies, Israeli doctors say



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Analysis of health data from 3,000 women in Jerusalem found that coronavirus vaccines do not increase pregnancy risks, but contracting COVID-19 may make women slightly more vulnerable to preterm labor, a doctor.

Health officials widely recommend vaccines for everyone over the age of 12, including women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to get pregnant, but many of these women are hesitant.

Doctors at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem examined data from 3,000 women and found no correlation between inoculation and pregnancy-related complications. They even found early signs that babies of vaccinated mothers might be less likely to develop complications.

“We wanted to see if there was an impact of vaccines on unborn babies, and we saw that there are absolutely no pregnancy complications resulting from the vaccination,” said Dr Misgav Rottenstreich, a medical doctor. senior by Shaare Zedek, The Times of Israel.

What the study found was a slightly increased risk of having an early labor for those who contracted COVID, even though they have recovered. While 2.8% of vaccinated and unvaccinated women had preterm labor, the rate rose to 3.4% among women who had contracted the virus and recovered.

“This primarily reflects infections near the due date, which appear to put mothers at risk of preterm birth,” Rottenstreich said.

He added that since the study ended in April, data from hundreds of other women has been collected and corroborates previous findings.

“This is a large study, which means our findings are strong. We hope this study will increase the number of pregnant women who get vaccinated, as many are afraid of getting the vaccine due to concerns about pregnancy. “

The study has not been published or peer reviewed. However, other published studies, such as an analysis of more than 17,000 women published by the Journal of the American Medical Association last week, also found the vaccines to be safe for pregnant women.

A health worker administers a dose of Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine to a pregnant woman at a Clalit Health Services clinic in Tel Aviv on January 23, 2021 (AFP)

“There are no bad consequences from COVID vaccination, and there can even be positive consequences,” Rottenstreich said, adding that he has no medical explanation for the possible positive consequences.

Among the possible positive consequences:

  • Intensive care was slightly more common among babies of unvaccinated women, 4.5% of whom ended up in the intensive care unit while 4.1% of babies of vaccinated mothers did. The rate was 5.2% among children whose mothers caught COVID-19 and recovered.
  • Respiratory support was needed for 0.8% of all infants born to vaccinated mothers, compared to 1.5% of infants of unvaccinated and 1.1% of those whose mothers recovered from the coronavirus.

Illustrative image: A nurse cares for an infant in the new neonatal intensive care unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, February 24, 2014 (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)

“Our study found that the virus has the potential to negatively impact both mother and infant, while the vaccine only improves the health of pregnant women and allows them to continue their lifestyle without need to be isolated from the general population, ”said Prof. Sarina Grisaru, director of the Wilf Women and Infant Center in Shaare Zedek and co-author of the study.

“With this new data, we can conclusively advise all pregnant women to go out and get the vaccine.”

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