Here is the science behind the Covid vaccine during pregnancy

You are pregnant, healthy and purified messages: Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. From the health and human services, the Covid vaccine removed from the list of vaccinations that you should receive.

“I could no longer be happy to announce that from today the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women was removed from the immunization schedule recommended by CDC,” said Kennedy Tuesday.

But guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other researchers say being pregnant still in one risk -group That should receive boosters. Science is on the side of the shots.

Covid during pregnancy

Pregnant women who had contracted Covid were more likely to get seriously ill and to be admitted to hospital than women of the same age and demography who were not pregnant, especially early in the COVID Pandemie.

A analysis Of the 435 studies from all over the world in 2019-2020, it turned out that pregnant and recent pregnant women who were infected with COVID would end up in intensive care units, have invasive ventilation and die than women who were not pregnant but had a similar health profile. This was before vaccines were available.

Dr. Neil Silverman, A professor in clinical obstetrics and gynecology leads the infectious diseases during the pregnancy program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He said he still sees more bad results in pregnant patients who have Covid. The risk of serious Covid fluctuated when new variants were created and vaccinations became available, Silverman said, but the threat is still useful.

“Whatever politics says, science is science, and we know that objectively pregnant patients are at risk of considerably increased risk of complications,” Silverman said.

A request for commentary on the scientific literature that supports COVID vaccination for pregnant women who were sent to the public affairs Office of HHS has called on a non -signing E -mail that is not related to the question. The office did not respond when he was asked for a commentary on the record.

There is still much unknown about how Covid influences a pregnant person. The physiological relationship between Covid infections, mothers and fetuses in different stages of a pregnancy is complex, said Angela RasmussenA virologist at the University of Saskatchewan.

The increased risk for pregnant patients is partly because pregnancy changes the immune system, Rasmussen said.

“There is a natural immune suppression so that the body of the mother does not attack the developing fetus,” said Rasmussen. “Although the mother still has a functioning immune system, it does not function at full capacity,” she added.

Pregnant patients get sick rather and have more difficult to fight infection.

Covid can harm the placenta

In addition to changing the way the immune system works, being pregnant also makes five times women more To have blood clots. That risk is increased if she said Covid Covid Sallie PermarChairman of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine.

The virus that causes COVID can influence the vascular endothelium – specialized cells that hide and help blood vessels with blood flow, said Rasmussen. With a healthy person, the endothelium helps to prevent blood clots by producing chemicals that run the vascular system. In a person infected with Covid, the balance is thrown away and the production of those molecules is disturbed, what Research shows Can lead to blood clots or other blood disorders.

Permar said that those clots can be especially dangerous for both pregnant women and the baby. Inflammation and blood clots In the placenta can be connected to an increased risk of stillbirth, especially from Certain Covid variantsAccording to studies published in large medical journals and by the CDC.

When the placenta is inflamed, it is more difficult for blood with oxygen and nutrients to get to the baby, said Mary PrahlAssistantitory teacher pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

“If there is something that interrupts those functions – inflammation or coagulation or differences in how the blood flows – that will really affect how the placenta works and can grow the fetus and develop in a suitable way,” she said.

It makes sense that we see the effects of Covid in the placenta, Silverman said. “The placenta is nothing more than a hyper-specialized collection of blood vessels, so it is like a magnetic target for the virus.”

Blood vessels in the placenta are smaller, thinner and clot easier than in the mother’s circulation, he said.

Permar said that more recent data suggests that pregnant women who are sick with Covid still have a higher risk of pregnancy complications such as pre -eclampsia, premature birth and miscarriage, even with existing immunity of earlier infection or vaccination. Covid, she said, can still land women in the hospital with pregnancy complications.

Prahl said that the connection between Stillbirth and Covid might change, given the immunity that many people have developed vaccination Or earlier infection. It is an area in which she would like to see more research.

Vaccine safety and efficacy

There is already strong proof That both mrna-based and non-MRNA-COVID vaccines are safe for pregnant women.

Prahl was co-author of a small, early study That found no adverse results and showed that antibody protection remained for both the mother and the baby after birth. “What we learned very quickly is that pregnant individuals want answers and many of them want to be involved in research,” she said. Later studies, including a published in the journal Nature Medicine showing that getting a booster in pregnancy Cut newborn hospital admissions In the first four months of life, the early findings of her team supported.

Prahl expects that more evidence will soon be available to support the benefits of mothers who receive a Covid booster during pregnancy.

“I can say a bit behind the scenes, I see a lot of this provisional data,” she said.

She blames the delay in part in the recalculation of the Biden administration of federal efforts to follow Covid. “Much of the supervision of this data was withdrawn, “she said. The Trump government is Cut money Used to follow Covid.

But because the vaccine the immune system of a pregnant woman gives a boost by increasing neutralizing antibodies, virologist Rasmussen is sure that getting a during pregnancy makes it less likely that a pregnant woman ends up in the hospital when she becomes Covid.

“It will protect the pregnant person against more serious illness,” she said.

Getting a Covid vaccine during pregnancy also helps to protect newborns after birth. Pregnant women who are vaccinated pass on who protection to their babies.

According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 90% of babies Who had to be admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, had mothers who did not get the vaccine while they were pregnant. The study put out of medical data in 12 states, collected between October 2022 and April 2024. Of the 1,470 babies who are sick enough to be admitted to the hospital because of COVID, “often” serious results took place according to the report.

Exclusive newborns in the hospital at birth required approximately 1 in 5 babies who were admitted to the hospital with Covid Intensive Care, and almost one in 20 required a fan.

And babies too young to be vaccinated had the highest Covid hospital recording of each age group except people aged 75 and older.

The decision of the Trump administration to remove the COVID vaccine from the list of photos that it recommends for pregnant women means that insurance companies no longer cover it -so it can cost hundreds of dollars from their own pocket.

“I don’t want that doctor who just says:” Well, it’s really important. You have to vaccinate yourself and your children, whatever happens, even if you have to pay it out of your own pocket, “because everyone has their own priorities and budgetary worries, especially in the current economic climate,” Silverman said. “I cannot tell a family that the vaccine is more important than feeding their children. “

But he and his colleagues will continue to advise pregnant women to try to take the photos if they can.

“Newborns will be completely naive for exposure to Covid,” he said. “Vaccinating pregnant women to protect their newborns is still a valid reason to continue this effort.”

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