Coronavirus vaccines may be safe during pregnancy, a study has suggested that there has been no evidence of injury to the placenta in pregnant women who took the vaccine shot. First of such research published on Tuesday in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, adds to the growing record that COVID-19 vaccines are safe in pregnancy.
Meanwhile, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has recommended that pregnant women can take covid vaccine jabs.
"The placenta is like the black box in an airplane. If something goes wrong with a pregnancy, we usually see changes in the placenta that can help us figure out what happened," said Jeffery Goldstein, assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in the US.
"From what we can tell, the COVID vaccine does not damage the placenta," Goldstein said.
There has been hesitancy relating to the vaccine, especially among pregnant women, the researchers noted. "Our team hopes these data, albeit preliminary, can reduce concerns about the risk of the vaccine to the pregnancy," said study co-author Emily Miller, assistant professor at Northwestern University.
Placentas from 84 vaccinated patients and 116 unvaccinated patients who delivered at the hospital in Chicago, US, were taken for examination. Most patients received vaccines -- either Moderna or Pfizer -- during their third trimester. The same team of researchers last year issued a study that found placentas of women who tested Covid positive while pregnant had exhibited abnormal blood flow between mother and baby in utero.
Pregnant women who are willing to get inoculated to avoid contracting the virus should feel and not hesitate in doing so, Miller added. "We are beginning to move to a framework of protecting foetuses through vaccination, rather than from vaccination," Miller said.
In April, the scientists published a study showing pregnant women make COVID antibodies after vaccination and successfully transfer them to their foetuses.
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Until infants can get vaccinated, the only way for them to get COVID antibodies is from their mother.
The country has been hit by a second wave making the scenario miserable every day for the people due to lack of medical resources and flooding hospitals and medical staff, as well as crematoriums and mortuaries.
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Experts still cannot say when the numbers will peak and concerns are of increasing the transmissibility of the variant that is driving infections in India and spreading worldwide. Thus, vaccination of all adults has been opened by the government which is now the only way to safeguard people from the devastating effects of the virus.