Why should pregnant women get vaccinated against Covid-19?
Pregnant women are, by their very nature, usually quite young. Nevertheless, severe courses of Sars-CoV-2 infections are considerably more frequent among them than among other women of the same age. And these endanger not only the mother, but also the child. Vaccination protection is therefore particularly important during pregnancy.
Pregnancy is a risk factor for severe Covid-19 courses
One argument in favor of vaccination is that pregnancy is an independent risk factor for severe courses of Sars-CoV-2. Especially – but not only! – affected are women with additional risk factors such as obesity or diabetes.
An NHS study found that unvaccinated pregnant women accounted for one-fifth (20 percent) of all intensive care patients with Covid-19. However, their proportion of the population is only one percent.
One possible reason for severe courses in pregnancy is that the immune system shuts down a bit. This prevents the body’s immune cells from identifying and attacking the fetus as a foreign body. But this also reduces protection against many infectious diseases – including Sars-CoV-2.
Covid vaccination is recommended for pregnant women from the second trimester of pregnancy as well as for breastfeeding women.
Vaccination protects the child
An equally important argument in favor of vaccination is the protection of the unborn child. This is because the risk of pregnancy complications increases with a Sars Cov-2 infection in the mother. For example, a meta-analysis of 42 observational studies showed that preeclampsia, preterm birth or stillbirth, and intensive care unit treatments were more common in pregnant women with Sars-Cov-2 infection than in uninfected pregnant women.
One reason may be a severe covid-19 course in the mother that affects the baby overall. In addition, Sars-CoV-2 can also affect the placenta, causing it to become inflamed. Blood clots, which form more frequently in Sars-CoV-2 infections, also sometimes migrate into the placenta. Both can impair the baby’s supply and thus promote premature birth or miscarriage.
Antibodies for the child
Vaccination of the mother also protects the child directly: research groups have shown that a vaccinated mother can pass on corona antibodies to her child via the umbilical cord blood. Such “borrowed” antibodies give the child what is known as nest protection against various pathogens, protecting it from infection in the first weeks and months.
Are there vaccination risks for the child?
In the meantime, a great many vaccinated mothers worldwide have given birth to healthy children – even those who were vaccinated only during pregnancy. The various studies could not find any indication that the vaccination could harm the child.
Pregnant women are vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine from BioNTech/Pfizer. These vaccines travel mostly to the muscle cells at the site of vaccination – as well as to the lymph nodes and liver. In other areas of the body, they occur only in small amounts. In addition, they are broken down very quickly after they have done their job.
However, there can be no 100 percent certainty. However, the residual risk is very small. Mothers must weigh it against the known dangers associated with corona infection mentioned above: premature birth or miscarriage, pregnancy poisoning (preeclampsia), or stresses on the baby in the event of a severe covid-19 course in the mother.
How are pregnant women vaccinated?
Women who plan to become pregnant should get fully vaccinated in advance, if possible. That way, they have the best protection for themselves and their baby.
- If the pregnant woman has already received the first vaccination when the pregnancy is detected, the second dose should not be given until the second trimester to be on the safe side.
Waiting until the second trimester is purely a precautionary measure. In early pregnancy, there is some risk that fever in response to vaccination could cause miscarriage in rare cases.
A harmful effect of the vaccination on the development of the child is not expected even in the first trimester. Women who were vaccinated by chance, for example because they did not yet know they were pregnant, need not worry. Even during the vaccine trials, some women conceived a child unplanned. There was no evidence of a harmful effect.
Why the vaccination does not make you infertile
The Corona vaccines cannot make you infertile. Nevertheless, this rumor scares many young women who still want to become mothers.
The rumor refers to the fact that the spike protein has similarities in certain sections to a protein that is necessary for the formation of the placenta. In fact, however, the similarity is so slight that antibodies against the spike protein would not target the placenta.
However, the best proof of the invalidity of the hypothesis is that a great many vaccinated mothers have already become pregnant without any problems in recent years. For detailed information on this topic, see our article “Can Corona Vaccines Make You Infertile?”
Corona vaccination for nursing mothers
Experts strongly advise mothers to receive Corona vaccination while breastfeeding. There is now a large body of data demonstrating that vaccination with an mRNA vaccine is safe for the breastfeeding woman and her baby and effectively protects the mother.
Nest protection: infants also benefit directly from Corona vaccination during breastfeeding. They receive the antibodies that the mother makes through her milk and then have some nest protection against Sars-CoV-2.
No breastfeeding break necessary:The mRNA vaccines themselves, on the other hand, do not enter breast milk at all or only in minimal quantities and do not have any effect on the infant.
For women who have not yet been vaccinated, experts therefore recommend immunization according to the usual schedule of two doses of an mRNA vaccine at intervals of three to six (Comirnaty from BioNTech/Pfizer) or four to six weeks (Spikevax from Moderna – only for mothers over 30).
