'Mixed advice' on Covid vaccine confuses pregnant women in UK

CAMPAIGNERS have alleged that 'mixed advice' was given to pregnant women in the UK by health professionals which led to 'very high' vaccine hesitancy among the group, reported The Guardian.

A survey of 9,000 pregnant women for campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed has revealed that 40 per cent have not had a single dose of the Covid vaccine and only 21 per cent have had two doses.

Three-quarters of the respondents feel anxious about the easing of coronavirus restrictions with many saying the move is like “another lockdown” for expectant mothers, the report added.

"Pregnant women were the only vulnerable group not to have been prioritised for the vaccine, and misinformation had 'spread like wildfire' with many women refusing to be vaccinated as a result," Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, told The Guardian.

“The idea of ‘freedom day’ is a complete nonsense for hundreds of thousands of pregnant women. As people cast off their masks in wild abandon, the majority of pregnant women are being forced into a lockdown of their own.”

She has urged the government to prioritise pregnant women for the vaccine and promote clear information.

Brearley will give evidence on the impact of Covid-19 on new parents to the parliamentary petitions select committee on Wednesday (14).

The group said it had been inundated with stories of negative messaging given to pregnant women from healthcare professionals.

Jen Thorne, a social media consultant, said that she was shocked when a midwife told her not to risk another thalidomide situation by having the vaccine.

Another women, Ceri Williams, said she was 30 weeks pregnant and had got her second jab but she had to “fight for it”.

“Support from midwife and healthcare professionals has been awful. I was asked repeatedly yesterday at the vaccination centre if I was sure about going ahead – I felt judged and it was very upsetting," she said.

According to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, UK studies suggest pregnant women are no more likely to catch Covid than other groups but while the majority who do get the virus have few or no symptoms they may be at increased risk of having severe disease.

The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has stated that pregnant women who did get symptomatic Covid-19 infection were two to three times more likely to give birth to their baby prematurely.

In April, the JCVI advised pregnant women to have the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines where possible, after data from the US showed about 90,000 pregnant women had been vaccinated without any safety concerns.

A month later the government said it would amend the system to allow pregnant women to choose their vaccine, after complaints from organisations representing obstetricians, GPs and midwives.

According to a study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, women who tested positive for Covid-19 around the time of birth were twice as likely to have a stillbirth.