According to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), it is highly recommended that women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant receive the covid-19 vaccine.
Reliable research has shown that pregnant women are at a higher risk of severe illness compared with women who are not pregnant if exposed to the covid-19 virus and have an increased risk of being hospitalised and requiring ventilation. In fact, the risk of patients needing intensive care is three times as high than if a woman is not pregnant and hospitalisation is five times higher.
In addition to these safety risks for the mother, there is a greater risk of severe complications for the baby including a higher risk of stillbirth and premature delivery.
Multiple studies that have come out of the University of Oxford have shown that premature births are more likely when a pregnant woman gets covid-19, which can result in developmental delays later in life.
A recent study from New York University has shown that women who were pregnant and received the covid-19 vaccine passed on high levels of antibodies through the umbilical cord to their unborn baby, which provided their babies with extra protection against the virus.
In fact, reliable research from large cohort studies have found there is no increased risk of side effects among pregnant women who have received their covid-19 vaccine.
