- A Facebook post claimed that the coronavirus vaccine caused a miscarriage of OB-GYN.
- But the doctor suffered the loss before receiving the vaccine, according to her Instagram posts.
- Based on how it is done and the data so far, scientists say the vaccine is likely to be safe during pregnancy.
- Visit the Insider Business section for more stories.
When Dr. Michelle Rockwell woke up on Sunday morning, just a few months after suffering a pregnancy loss, she said she saw her photos posted on social media claiming her abortion was caused by a COVID-19 vaccine.
Rockwell took a screenshot of the outstanding post, which no longer appears to be visible.
Previously, Rockwell, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Tulsa, posted about her pregnancy loss on her account, @DoctorMommyMD, which has more than 26,000 followers. Separately, she posted about her vaccination.
But the antivaxx post linked the two without a basis, despite the fact that Rockwell suffered an abortion before she received the vaccine, she wrote in a post on Monday addressing the incident and misinformation on the internet more generally.
“How heartless and predatory it is to take someone’s broken heart and modify it to promote their own agenda,” she said. “Disinformation is spreading so quickly because people don’t stop to think before they click the share button.”
Insider talked to doctors about why the coronavirus vaccine is unlikely to increase the risk of miscarriage or other complications during pregnancy.
Rockwell posted about his miscarriage on December 1 and his vaccine on December 21
“We lost our dear baby,” wrote Rockwell, who has two children, on Instagram on December 1. On December 21, she posted a selfie while getting the coronavirus vaccine. Rockwell posted again about her miscarriage on January 14, sharing a photo from before she underwent a D&C, a procedure to remove the tissue from the pregnancy.
“After she left, little baby clothes I bought with enthusiasm were still showing up at home,” wrote Rockwell on Jan. 14. “I packaged them silently. My heart is still so broken, but I found a strength in me that I didn’t find to know that it existed.”
Whoever took the photos of Rockwell ignored that timeline.
“If someone really went to my IG and scrolled through my posts, they would see that I miscarried three weeks before I got the vaccine,” wrote Rockwell on Monday. “I had my D&C 2 days after the vaccine, but my sweet baby was gone long before that.”
She used the experience to remind followers to be smart about consumption and the proliferation of information. She encouraged them to check that the information is correct, to consider the source, to consider who is posting, to question whether something is too good to be true and to keep in mind how what you share affects other people.
“Remember, there’s a human on the other side of the screen,” she wrote. “Who has feelings. Who feels pain in the heart.”
Based on how it works, the vaccine is believed to be safe in pregnant women
Researchers are still collecting data on the potential risks of the vaccine for pregnant women, although health and public health professionals expect them to be low.
“Based on how the COVID vaccine works, there should be very little risk for a developing baby,” pediatrician and neonatologist Dr. Jessica Madden, who is also a medical director at Aeroflow Breastpumps, previously told Insider. That’s because, like the flu vaccine, coronavirus vaccines do not contain live viruses.
“The vaccine’s mRNA acts locally, on the muscle cells around the injection site,” she said. “It cannot enter the nucleus of cells, so it has no effect on DNA.” It also does not enter the placenta or interact directly with the fetus.
“There is no vertical transmission,” or transmission between mother and baby, of the virus or vaccine, Dr. Jessica Shepherd OB-GYN told Insider.
And, since the vaccine makes the body produce antibodies very similar to the natural ones produced in response to the infection, if they attacked the placenta, as another anti-vaccine post on Facebook said in December, we would see high rates of complications and spontaneous abortions among women. more than 44,000 pregnant women who have had COVID-19, said Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Yale School of Medicine, USA TODAY.
But in fact, Shepherd told Insider, studies have shown that pregnant women with COVID-19 are not significantly more likely to lose pregnancy than those without the disease.
Evidence collected so far does not show ‘warning signs’ when it comes to vaccination during pregnancy
The few women who became pregnant while participating in clinical vaccine trials reported no complications, and the limited data from animal studies did not reveal any damage during pregnancy.
Of the more than 100,000 pregnant women who have been vaccinated, “there has been no warning sign” regarding their safety so far, said infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci during a talk at the New York Press Club in January.
Although the vaccine can cause fever as a side effect, which can be problematic for the developing fetus in early pregnancy, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says it can be treated with Tylenol, which is safe in pregnancy and does not appear to affect the functioning of vaccines.
Pregnant women are at higher risk of complications with COVID-19
If infected, pregnant women are at a higher risk of admission to the intensive care unit, ventilation, life support and even death than patients who are not pregnant, although the overall risk is still low, a November report by the Diseases and Prevention found. They are also more likely to give birth prematurely.
Black pregnant women are particularly at risk of contracting the disease and suffering related complications.
Its increased risk of complications is why the American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommends that pregnant women and those intending to become pregnant get the vaccine.
Other organizations leave the decision to the woman. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that “vaccines should not be denied to pregnant women” in prioritized groups, and the CDC and the World Health Organization say that eligible pregnant women “can choose to be vaccinated”.
Shepherd said undecided women who are pregnant or trying to start a family should talk to their obstetrician gynecologists about the pros and cons for them. “This is definitely something that can cause a lot of concern for someone who is pregnant or planning to become pregnant, so it is best to have your obstetrician to get these facts and not use the internet,” she said.
Factors such as rates of transmission in the community, your own risk of serious COVID-19 disease, occupation and pregnancy complications should influence your decision, experts say.
Whatever your choice, “you must feel that your decision is respected,” said Madden, “and know that if you decide not to get the vaccine now or in the future, everything is fine.”