Is the Covid Vaccine SAFE for Pregnant Women and Breastfeeding? (Latest Evidence) | Doctor Explains

Five months ago our little boy was born, Rafi, he's doing great. But my wife was pregnant during the pandemic, we had some questions, we had questions regarding the vaccine, we had questions around breastfeeding and the vaccine and I hope in this video I can encapsulate some of that with the latest research and evidence because it's not an easy decision to make. There is so much information out there that sometimes deciphering all of that can be difficult. Everything I've come across with regards to the Pfizer, the Moderna, the mRNA vaccine suggests that they are protective and safe in pregnancy but also that they reduce your risk of hospitalisation and death. It's not just my opinion, many of the health boards across different countries are saying that at the moment based on the latest research. This is Dr Pat O'Brien, the Vice President of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, essentially in charge of maternal health in the UK. What we'll do for the rest of the video is actually decipher some of the research and see what the numbers show, but also at the end I will answer some key questions that pregnant mums have asked me as a family doctor. So let's have a little recap. The original phase 3 trials done by the drug manufacturers didn't include pregnant women and that can sometimes be a normal protocol. Pregnant women are vulnerable in society and you don't want to start testing the newest medication on them first. Interestingly enough, of the people in one of the trials, 18 of them did become pregnant later on and they followed their journey. When looked at two months, they found that no miscarriages occurred in those 18 pregnancies, which was actually quite reassuring, but it wasn't a large enough sample for us to feel safe at the time. Let's have a look at the latest evidence that's come out since then. The v-safe register which is run by the CDC has been fantastic because they've tracked 139,000 pregnant women who've had the vaccine and the results are fantastic. There is no increased risk of miscarriages, no increased risk of harm to the mothers during pregnancy and importantly, no increased risk of harm to the baby. Similarly in the UK, 52,000 pregnant women were followed after they had the vaccine and again, no concerns were raised. All the rates were as we would see before they had the COVID vaccine. So in total, that's close to 200,000 pregnant women who were followed and monitored and the safety side of things, there were no red flags that have been raised. Now importantly, most of these patients had the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine, which is the mRNA vaccines and if you want to know more about those kind of vaccines, I've done a video on that here. From the safety side, that looks quite good. What if you decide not to take the vaccine? The latest data from NHS England shows that in the UK, no pregnant woman who has had both vaccines has been admitted into hospital. Three have been admitted who've had the first vaccine, but remember having one vaccine does not fully protect you. You get the full protections once you've had both vaccines. The worrying figure is that 98% of pregnant women who are in hospital are actually unvaccinated. The general consensus in the medical community is that being pregnant puts you at a higher risk for COVID in the sense that if you get COVID, you're more at risk of complications, being admitted to hospital, ending up in ITU and eventually death. Having the vaccine protects you against all of those stages. In another massive study in the UK, it followed 340,000 pregnant women and looked at what the complications rates were for those that had COVID and actually, not so surprisingly, those that had COVID had higher rates of fetal death, so the baby dying, higher rates of preeclampsia, which is a blood pressure condition in pregnancy, higher rates of emergency C-sections and also premature deliveries. The co-author of that study, Professor Asma Khalil said, This highlights the importance of COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant women. It reduces the risk not just to themselves but also to their babies. So far, well, the first thing is if you're pregnant and you catch COVID, you are at a much higher risk. The second thing is that vaccines protect you from ending up in hospital and having severe complications with COVID. And thirdly, there's been no increased risk of any complications during the pregnancy or birth or to the child that is born. It's also important to highlight things we don't know for sure. For example, what are the long, long-term effects of these vaccines? 10 years down the line, 15 years down the line, we can't know that at the moment because it's only been out for less than eight or nine months. There's a couple of things in science that we look at to try and give us estimates of the future, to try and work out if it causes any problems. Let's look at the biological plausibility, the structure of the vaccine that's created, what it does to the cells, and is there any chance that it could do anything in the long term? And from the science of it, there is nothing that would be predicted to be harmful in the future. We also look at animal studies. The mRNA vaccine has been in development for decades. It didn't just pop up overnight. And the animal studies do not indicate any long-term effects. With vaccines, you normally see side effects within days to weeks and sometimes maybe months. Very seldom does a side effect pop up three, four years down the line. So that would be very, very unusual for a vaccine and something that would be unheard of. The important thing to say, there's ongoing research with the vaccine and pregnancy and looking at more the long-term picture to make sure we have more data to be able to fully inform patients. Now, on to breastfeeding. Can you get the vaccine if you're breastfeeding? Is it safe? Well, there's been numerous studies that have actually shown that when you are breastfeeding and you've had the vaccine, you pass on higher levels of antibodies to your baby. Antibodies are the things that fight off the COVID infection. This is in comparison to people who had COVID and didn't have the vaccine. So essentially your immunity that you've got, you're able to pass on to the child. Personally, Raffi is five months old now, has been fully breastfed. My wife has had both vaccinations. Again, the evidence for women who are breastfeeding, who've had the vaccines have shown that there's no major concerns that have been raised. That's why the major health boards across the US, UK and also the WHO all recommend that all breastfeeding women should get the vaccine. There should be no halt in the breastfeeding. They can just go get the vaccine and continue with breastfeeding. Final part, we're on to the questions. It's a quick fire question round. These are questions you've sent in on Instagram. We do quizzes and lots of questions and learning on there. So if you're not following, give us a follow on there. The first one is a good one. Can my baby get COVID if I got the COVID vaccine? A lot of people have asked this, but actually none of the vaccines are live vaccines. None of the vaccines contain the COVID virus. So the chance of you passing on the actual virus COVID to your baby is very unlikely to impossible, I would say, because it doesn't contain the virus. Why vaccinate if the death rate is so low for COVID? Well, this one is an interesting one. I do see this one a lot. So look, an individual's risk may be low. Sometimes there's a bit of a fallacy in thinking we have this kind of idea that we will never get the virus, we'll never catch it, and it will never make us poorly. But hospitals are full of unvaccinated patients at the moment who also have that kind of thinking, who also thought, but it couldn't possibly be me who gets it and becomes very poorly. And unfortunately, there are large numbers of people who will catch it, who will be unwell with it, and will end up in hospital. And the reason we're trying to vaccinate is so that we don't have a massive surge of people going into hospital at the same time, putting a massive strain on the resources and lots of deaths as a result of that. So the reason to get vaccinated is to protect yourself, is to protect your community, and is to protect your hospitals, essentially, from completely collapsing. I hope that explains it. I've not really got much more to say on that one. Does a COVID vaccine affect my fertility? At the moment, there is zero evidence that indicates any fertility issues with the COVID vaccine. The COVID virus, on the other hand, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that it may affect fertility. Again, the research side of things is very early on that side, but my main concern would be about the virus affecting fertility rather than the vaccine itself. Will the vaccine get into my genes or my baby's genes? Really good question. The simple answer to that would be no. The vaccine enters the cell, but it does not enter the nucleus where your genetic material is held. This is true, especially for the RNA vaccines. They are in the ribosomes, the protein factories of the cell, but it doesn't go anywhere near your genetic material. That's in an enveloped kind of area, which is the nucleus of the cell. So the concern about affecting genes, genetics, again, no evidence for that at all. Lastly, I've heard the vaccine can make you unwell for a few days. Can I still look after my baby? That's a really important question. For some people after they've had the vaccine, they can get flu-like symptoms, a headache, temperatures, and things like that. For me personally, I had an ache on my arm. I had a bit of a temperature for about 48 hours. Then I felt fine afterwards. If you've got a new baby, I think it's a good idea to have some people around you, family members, partner, who can help you with the baby. But it's also important to drink plenty of water and you can also take paracetamol, Tylenol to help reduce your temperature. Important take-homes I think are that if you're not sure, if you've got questions, please speak to your healthcare professionals about the vaccine. Don't ever rely on just one source of information for your decision like this video or an article on Facebook. I've listed all of the studies we've talked about in the description. Please explore those. Please look at lots of different sources when you're trying to make your mind up on this important decision in your life. We make health videos that are easy to understand and easily digestible on this channel every week. So if you enjoyed this, please share it. Please hit the subscribe, the bell, so that more videos can come your way. I've been Dr Khalid. You've been fantastic. I wish you all the best. Take care.