Center for Disease Control and Prevention urges all pregnant women to get COVID-19 vaccine

Rochester, New York —  This week the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged all pregnant women to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Many pregnant women have the same question about that CDC decision: Is it safe for my baby and me?

According to Daniel Grace, division chief of maternal-fetal medicine from Rochester Regional Health: “We do know that pregnant women are much more susceptible to severe manifestations of COVID-19, so we always have to balance that against what are the potential risks of taking a vaccine,” Dr. Grace said.

CDC urges all pregnant women to get the COVID-19 vaccine
“When a patient is pregnant and becomes infected with COVID, there is about a 10-12 per thousand rates of being severely affected enough that they end up in the ICU, and that contrasts with about a three to four per thousand for women of equivalent age or who are not pregnant, so about a three to four-fold increase in the risk of ending up in the ICU,” he said.

While the hospitalization numbers are seemingly low, the CDC doubled down its stance following new data underscoring the safety of the vaccine for pregnant women.

“I know initially when this came out, there were some concerns about the vaccine causing infertility in non-pregnant patients; all of the data that has come out so far has not validated that,” Dr. Grace said.

According to Daniel Grace, the COVID vaccine is indeed safe for those expecting.

“I would recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant patients, and I’m putting my money where my mouth is. If my family member was pregnant, I would recommend it to them,” he said.