COVID-19 In Pittsburgh: Pregnant And Nursing Women Turn To Doctors For Advice About Vaccine
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - As more people roll up their sleeves to get the coronavirus vaccine, more questions are coming up on who should get it.
Since pregnant and nursing women were not part of any trial, many are turning to doctors for advice.
"There would be nothing scarier than the thought of me delivering in a hospital, working in a hospital around COVID patients and the risk of giving that to a newborn," said Christine Fabrizo, who's 21 weeks pregnant.
Fabrizio is a nurse at West Penn Hospital. She did the research, talked to her doctors and is now fully vaccinated as a pregnant woman.
"The first one I got at 17 weeks. Absolutely no reaction, no site injection soreness. I felt great. It was like getting any other vaccine. It was kind of a big relief and a weight was off my chest. Things can return to normal," Fabrizio said.
With no vaccine research on pregnant women or nursing moms, there is a concern for this population.
"I desperately want to avoid COVID. I know pregnant women are more susceptible to poor outcomes and hospitalizations," said Cara Nikolajski, who's 18 weeks pregnant.
Dr. Michael Aziz with Allegheny Health Network believes the benefit of the vaccine outweighs the risk of COVID-19. He's encouraging pregnant women to roll up their sleeves.
"We are gaining more information as more than 11 million people have been vaccinated in the United States, and there are big registries of women who are pregnant and getting the vaccine that we are monitoring," Dr. Aziz said.
If you are unsure, it's best to do the research and talk with your doctor.
"I really didn't think about it until I became pregnant and was like, wow, they may not offer this to me because of that and I hadn't thought about it. So I was like oh, no, this isn't real. I talked with my OB and she was like, oh, yeah, we're here telling people to get it, which made me feel more comfortable," Nikolajski said.
Dr. Aziz believes that pregnant women and nursing women were not included in the original trials because their participation likely would have slowed down the approval process.