COVID-19: Is It Safe for Pregnant Women to Receive the Vaccine?

In the age of coronavirus, you are making decisions every day regarding the health and safety of yourself and your family. Anyone with a preexisting condition or a compromised immune system is at a higher risk of contracting and suffering from more severe symptoms of the virus. If you or a loved one are an expecting mother, then you have more than just your health to take into consideration.

Staying Safe During Pregnancy

While you are pregnant, you must take extra care of your health. Make sure that you are keeping all of your doctor’s appointments, especially if you have any underlying medical concerns. If you are concerned about going to your appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic, talk to your doctor about extra precautions to make yourself feel safer during this uncertain time.

If you are pregnant, experts recommend that you get certain vaccines. The annual flu vaccine and the whooping cough vaccine are both important to get when you are expecting. Anyone who spends a lot of time with you or will be spending a lot of time with your baby should also get the flu vaccine as well. Both the flu and whooping cough have symptoms similar to COVID-19, so if you or your baby do begin to show symptoms, it would be helpful to potentially rule out both of those diseases.

COVID-19 in Newborn Babies

It is uncommon for infants of mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy to have the virus at birth; however, some newborns have tested positive shortly after birth. Experts are unsure whether the infants contracted the virus before, during, or after birth. In most cases, the newborns who have contracted the coronavirus have had little to no symptoms and have recovered fully, but some infants have had severe symptoms of COVID-19. Because this virus is still so new, experts have little data and are still working to understand every aspect of it.

Should You Get the Vaccine if You Are Pregnant?

The COVID-19 vaccine is an mRNA vaccine, which is a type of vaccine that does not contain a live virus. This type of vaccine also does not interact with a person’s DNA because it doesn’t enter the nucleus of the cell. Because the COVID-19 vaccine is an mRNA vaccine, experts believe that it is unlikely that it will pose any threat to a pregnant woman or a fetus. The current recommendation is that pregnant women should get the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available.

Because both the virus and the vaccine are still so new, research is ongoing. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have systems in place to monitor the vaccine and how people react to it.

COVID-19 and BASS Urgent Care

At BASS Advanced Urgent Care, we offer COVID-19 tests both inside our facility and from the convenience of your vehicle. We are committed to the health and safety of all our patients. You can schedule your COVID-19 test today by visiting our website or by calling us at (925)-526-7553.

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