Study: COVID-19 vaccine given during pregnancy is safe for mother, baby - WKRC TV Cincinnati

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - A new study shows promising results about getting the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy. What’s passed from mother to baby may be life-saving.

This new study shows that getting the COVID-19 vaccine may not only be critical for mom and baby’s good health, but it’s also linked to lower risk of poor neonatal outcomes.

Researchers in “JAMA Pediatrics” found remarkable health outcome differences in newborns when moms chose at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while pregnant. The antibodies formed against the virus in mom are passed from mother to child in utero.

When researchers compared babies after birth of moms who weren’t vaccinated to those who did get vaccinated, they found a drop in death rates from 0.16% to 0.09%, a drop in the need for NICU admissions after birth from 13.1% to 11.4% and a drop in severe complications from a disease or medical condition from 8.3% to 7.3%.

“The need for treatment for jaundice, the need for IV fluids, the need for any type of oxygen therapy - those things that can potentially happen after birth,” said Dr. Kristin Coppage, system chief of women’s services at TriHealth.

She said most women who are pregnant report uncertainty about vaccine safety is their top reason for avoiding them. But this new data is now available about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy.

"If you do get the vaccine in pregnancy, it is safe. Your baby is going to be protected, and it doesn't cause more harm to your baby,” Dr. Coppage said.

Researchers found the vaccine was safe, no matter which trimester moms got the shot. That is critical information, considering pregnancy itself put moms and babies at greater risk for complications from any virus.

"Your immune system is suppressed when you're pregnant. We're making in a sense a foreign being in our bodies. Half of us is like us and the other half is like the father of the baby, and so our body doesn't want to reject that growing and developing baby, and so everything is suppressed,” Dr. Coppage said.

She said one note is that even if moms follow all other suggestions for a healthy pregnancy – from prenatal vitamins to checkups – virus protection is also a critical step for a healthy baby.

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Study: COVID-19 vaccine given during pregnancy is safe for mother, baby - WKRC TV Cincinnati
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