Covid Vaccine

DuchessOfCambridge

Not a drama thread!!

Will you get the vaccine during pregnancy if offered?

tiggywiggles

Being in Ontario, baby will be born before I would be offered one.  I likely wont get one until after breastfeeding.  I'm blessed to live in an area with few cases and hubby works from home (he did before Covid).  With our risk being low I'm not in a rush.  Hubby however will get one once he can. 

DuchessOfCambridge

Cases are high here. Idk when pregnant women will be included in my state but I will take it if it’s recommended by my OB and I am able to. There is an increased risk of preterm birth and preeclampsia if you get covid while pregnant. Since I’m ALREADY at increased risk for both of those, and because cases are high around me and people don’t like to follow guidelines, I’d jump at the chance to get vaccinated. I don’t think our behavior would change much but I wouldn’t feel as at the mercy of other people. These new variants have me all 😷😷😷

kime783

I hope to get it soon! I am faculty for a physician assistant program and my husband is also a healthcare professional. I will feel better as soon as we can both be vaccinated (he already is!). Bonus would be antibodies transferred to baby. I will talk to my OB about it but personally don’t see a downside for me. Plus where I live pregnancy was just moved to 1A for vaccine rollout. I’ve had enough friends/colleagues with some horrible pregnant covid patient stories 😭 My poor DS will be the only one in the house without antibodies.

wanderlustsoul

I’d love to get it as soon as I can but it’s not looking likely. So hopefully I can get it while breastfeeding and pass on some antibodies to the newborn. I see 0 downside. I worry endlessly about what the long term impacts of covid on a fetus could be and that’s something we won’t know for years. And I really don’t want my newborn getting covid. My son had RSV at 3 months because my mom gave her bronchitis to all 3 of us. It was awful. 😭

DuchessOfCambridge

Okay this is making me feel better! Obviously we don’t know long term effects of the vaccine and pregnancy but what I do know about covid and pregnancy totally freaks me out. We are in phase 1b, I don’t know that there are any plans to move pregnancy up right now 😕 especially with the WHO saying they don’t recommend it which probably makes sense in a country with controlled spread but the US is definitely not that

daisy528

Likely getting it when it’s offered to me. In my state I fall at the end of phase 2, so probably April/May. Like @DuchessOfCambridge, I am already at risk for preeclampsia, and add the fact both my other kids are in school/daycare, my husband works in grocery retail, and cases are high here - good enough reasons for me to get it. Obviously if more info comes out about the vaccine during pregnancy having side effects, then I am ok waiting until after delivery while breastfeeding.

hannahcampbell2017

Likely won't be offered to me for a while as I work from home. My doctor said she didn't think I should rush to get it since I am in a low risk job and low risk environment. My husband is really my only exposure risk so hoping he can get his soon

marikkita12

if it is offered to me I’ll take it. Cases here are stupidly high and people are idiots and not taking it seriously. My only fear is that many people are getting their butts kicked by the second dose which includes high fevers and obviously while pregnant that is always dicey

canucklehead123

Like @tiggywiggles I won’t be offered it until well after baby is born as we are already falling behind our vaccine plan in Alberta.  My hope is that they will allow breastfeeding women to have it as we learn more information!  DH will be getting it as soon as he can (but I’m sure that won’t be until August or September either given our current vaccination rate). 

karacc18

I'm glad you started this thread. It's interesting to hear everyone's point of view. I am in New England, our vaccine roll out in the state has been a total mess. I said from the beginning I was apprehensive to get it as it hadn't been tested on pregnant women. According to our vaccine roll out, I'd be eligible in June/July (but I doubt it would be that soon seeing as how effed up it already is). I'd have to see what my doc says about getting it while breastfeeding. My husband is over 50, so he is eligible before me (April I think?). He said he doesn't want to get it. IDK, we will see what happens in the spring. It's just so hard to know what to do. WHO said last Monday that pregnant women shouldn't get it unless they work in an industry with high exposure, and then speak to your provider about it. Then 4 days later they said we should get it.... it's all such new and changing info all the time it's very confusing. 

bntfroggie

I have an appt on April 13th to get the vaccine.  I tried to push mine out as far as possible so I'd be as late in the pregnancy as possible.  I technically work for a school district but don't see any kids or have interactions with them.  I haven't talked to my OB yet but the plan so far is to keep my appt.  My risk is relatively low but I do work in the office and the girls do go to an inhome daycare.

becks_726

I work from home so my risk is pretty low and with the way roll out is happening I expect it’ll only be offered to me late in the summer. I also live in an area with a very controlled number of cases so I probably wouldn’t jump to get it while pregnant if it was offered to me before July. As it stands I will happily get it as soon as possible after the baby is born. I don’t see breastfeeding as a reason not too. My husband it essential/frontline though and I can’t wait for him to get it! FX our cases stay the way they are until we can. 

DuchessOfCambridge

@karacc18 the WHO basically said that bc we don’t have much info and they are speaking in terms of the world, not just the US. Other countries have cases under control but we do not at all so recommendations need to vary by country. I haven’t seen anything with long term effects but I did read that some women got pregnant during the vaccine trial and of those who got the vaccine, zero of them miscarried so that seemed really promising.

It’s definitely a personal decision and not an easy one. For me it was pretty clear - I am more scared of the increased risk of being intubated (5x more likely than non pregnant women) and the increased risk of preterm birth and preeclampsia. And then there are the long term effects of what covid could do to a fetus. I know it’s not that cut and dry for everyone especially with varying pregnancy histories. 

jessd0117

I’m still really torn on this! My OB recommended it, but then quickly dismissed my concerns without making me feel any better about them. I’m still doing my own research for now as I probably have a minimum of a few months before it would be available anyways. I work from home right now, but my daughter is still going to daycare (they’ve had 2 cases in a year and have nipped it quick so no big outbreaks) and DH works construction so who knows what he brings home. 

As of right now, if I were offered the vaccine today, I would say no because I just don’t have that much confidence in it. But as I said, still doing research so that could definitely change! I’m open minded but not sold yet

cammie0526

I absolutely would/will get it when I can. Like most of you said, it probably won’t be offered to me until after my pregnancy, but I’m hopeful that my state can get it together and start ramping up the vaccine rollout soon. 

rschenck14

Up in the air on getting it while pregnant. I would like to get guidance from OB on this one, but open to it. As soon as I am not pregnant, will definitely get it. We are relatively low risk, both my husband and I have been working from home since last March. DD1 has been doing virtual school since March and will continue virtual thru the end of the year. DD2 lost her spot at daycare because they reduced capacity and we opted to keep her at home till DD1 went back. So with both kids at home till baby arrives, and we really only leave the house for groceries, pretty low risk. However with my age and being overweight, having asthma and had pneumonia back in 2019, I would love to get the shot and be protected.

marikkita12

I asked my OB at my appointment today and she said she recommends it but not in the first trimester (mostly because some people are getting high fevers as a reaction and a high fever during first tri can damage the baby). She said that 23 women in the trials got pregnant and there seems to be proof that antibodies get passed to the baby. She said it’s patient choice depending on how high risk the situation is but she recommended I get it if I get the chance 

DuchessOfCambridge

I can sign up this week! Getting an appointment slot is the hard part but it’s something!

DuchessOfCambridge

I got my first shot this week and so did H. We go back in 3 weeks for our second shots. I’m in total disbelief we were able to get appointments so quickly 

bntfroggie

I moved my vaccine appt up a little bit.  I could have gotten one today but I chickened out, I feel like I needed to mentally prepare for it.  Who knows I'm pro science and pro vaccine but also weary for baby.

DuchessOfCambridge

@bntfroggie totally get it, there are so many unknowns. It made me feel much more confident to learn how many women got pregnant while doing the vaccine trial and how there were no ill effects. A baby was born recently too with antibodies present! It’s still hard not to worry with it being so new ❤️ In the end my fears from getting covid and what it would do to baby outweighed vaccine fears. Do what feels right and I hope you feel good about whatever decision you make!

daisy528

DuchessOfCambridge said:

...In the end my fears from getting covid and what it would do to baby outweighed vaccine fears....

This is EXACTLY what my OB told me. Their practice feels that patients should do what will make them feel more at ease. So, if you are more concerned about what could happen if you got Covid while pregnant, it’s worth it to get the vaccine.

sojoba

All pregnant people will be able to receive the vaccine by the spring round in my state so I’m hoping to be able to get it before delivering. Totally agree with the comments above, I personally have done my research but everyone needs to do what they’re comfortable with. 

kime783

For anyone looking to get a vaccine appointment: I just found out that (at least here in Pennsylvania) Rite Aid drops their open slots for vaccine at 11:50pm on Tuesdays. Hopefully this information is helpful to someone trying to get a vaccine slot. I had difficulty for weeks until I got this little gem of info yesterday and now I’m signed up - yay!

bntfroggie

@kime783 In New York the state site says they have no appts available but if you register then refresh people are always canceling so they pop up.  I've moved mine up a couple of times like that.  Now it's March 26th and I think I'll keep that one

cammie0526

Ugh. Here in MD you still can’t sign up for an appt (or if you do sign up, they’ll turn you away) unless you’re 65+ or work in healthcare, education, or meet a couple other specific criteria. I get it and absolutely agree with the prioritization, but I’m also selfishly bummed that I won’t be eligible anytime soon. I’m really hoping to get vaccinated before baby comes. 

kime783

@cammie0526hopefully with the new research coming out surrounding increase risk for severe illness and complications with covid during pregnancy, Maryland will move pregnancy into a higher category. That’s what happened in PA, pregnancy is now category 1A even before teachers!