Joanne Stone, MD, MS, Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine answers multiple patient questions regarding the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and pregnancy. She answers questions for pregnant women, those trying to get pregnant, or who are breastfeeding. Understanding that COVID-19 can adversely affect pregnant women and their unborn babies, Dr. Stone advocates for women to get vaccinated as quickly as possible.
if you're pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant or even if you're breastfeeding this is absolutely the time to get the vaccine. I would not wait one extra day. I would get it today because there's a lot of data that shows the vaccine is very safe. It's not associated with miscarriage or infertility and and it's the only thing that we have right now or the thing that's the most important in preventing covid infection. So we do know that pregnant women who get COVID-19 infection are at a much higher risk for adverse outcomes. Things like severe disease. I'm even maternal death, there's also higher risk for the baby. So higher risk of preterm delivery and a condition called preeclampsia which is high blood pressure in pregnancy. So for all of these reasons um the risks are so much higher both to the mom as well as the baby. And so it's so important to prevent the disease during pregnancy. So I think patients should understand that. There are a lot of myths out there that have not proven to be true. So there's no increased risk of infertility if you get the vaccine part of getting pregnant. Um I also think that pregnant um individuals should know that because of the higher risks associated with covid in pregnancy there's you know complications that can be prevented by getting the vaccine. That vaccine has been really extensively extensively studied and all the major organizations um that involved with women's health care including society for maternal field medicine. Um The C. D. C. All are strongly advocating that people who are pregnant get the vaccine.
