Ministry of Health considers priority vaccination of pregnant women

The Ministry of Health should recommend that pregnant women be vaccinated, according to its deputy director-general, Itamar Gruta.

“We know that pregnancy” puts women at high risk for a serious case of coronavirus, Grotto said in an interview with KAN News. “We recommend that pregnant women be vaccinated.”

Ministry sources said a decision on the matter would be finalized the next day, probably giving preference to pregnant women. So far, neither the World Health Organization nor Pfizer has recommended allowing pregnant women to receive the vaccine because the company’s clinical tests did not include pregnant women.

Grotto’s comment came shortly after Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay, head of the Sheba Medical Center’s Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit, said she is also encouraging pregnant women to get vaccinated as more of them show up at therapy units. intensive coronavirus in the country in serious condition.

“For all pregnant women who are hesitant to get the COVID vaccine, I personally recommend it,” she said. “I think taking COVID during pregnancy is worse than getting a vaccine that doesn’t seem to put pregnant women at risk at all. We are applying the flu and pertussis vaccine during pregnancy. An mRNA vaccine should in no way be more dangerous, and the COVID infection is definitely ”that type of vaccine.

More than 30 pregnant women are hospitalized with the virus, including about 10 in serious or critical condition. In the past few days, there have been several premature cesarean deliveries for women who needed intubation.

Late Monday night, Beilinson reported that a 35-year-old woman with the virus at the 31st week of pregnancy was admitted to the hospital after her condition worsened. Immediately after her arrival, it was decided to intubate her and give birth to the baby, who is now in stable condition and is being ventilated at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center.

The Israeli Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, together with the National Council of Gynecology and Genetics and the Israeli Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, sent a letter to the Ministry of Health on Monday morning asking the ministry to approve the vaccination of pregnant women and lactating women.

“There is no scientific basis or facts that indicate infertility as a result of the vaccine,” wrote the society. “The coronavirus can be harmful during pregnancy, causing more serious illnesses and premature birth.”

Likewise, Prof. Yariv Yogev, director of Sheba’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said during the Puah Institute’s annual conference earlier this month that pregnant women should receive the vaccine, especially if they have risk factors.

He said the vaccine does not cause abortion or malformations of the fetus and that it does not pass into the milk of breastfeeding women.

However, at the conference, fertility experts noted that there is a lack of in-depth research on the subject and great uncertainty remains around the vaccine’s effects on fertility, pregnancy, childbirth and genetics.

WHEN it comes to clinical studies, children and pregnant women are generally considered to be special populations and therefore have not been included in Pfizer studies.

“When it comes to this particular vaccine, people need to remember that it is not an approved vaccine per se. It is a vaccine authorized for emergency use and the main reason for this is that we trust that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks ”, explained Prof. Cyrille Cohen, head of the immunotherapy laboratory at Bar-Ilan University. “When it comes to these populations – children and pregnant women – we have to ask ourselves whether this premise is still true.”

He said that with children, the answer is probably no, as there are few cases of children who develop severe cases of COVID-19.

In the first wave, Israel saw very few pregnant women contract the virus or have severe cases, something that has changed in this recent wave, especially with the British mutation.

“This is a violent and more severe wave [of coronavirus] than its predecessors ”, said Prof. Arnon Wiznitzer, obstetrician and gynecologist at Beilinson. “It is also affecting the population of young pregnant women.”

Cohen said the chance of developing severe symptoms is greater for pregnant women.

“Is it 1% or 15% more? We don’t know, ”he noted. But he said that providing treatment to pregnant women is also more complicated, which often results in the need for premature birth. This also puts babies at risk.

“Two hours ago, I was at Schneider’s nursery. There are four babies whose mothers are in the coronavirus intensive care unit in Beilinson, 100 meters from us, ”said the hospital’s rabbi, Rabbi Asher Laby. “I know one of the families. The baby came in and I looked out the nursery window. He’s so cute and sweet – this baby lying in bed and his mother in a critical, life-threatening situation. She’s hooked up to a respirator, living on drugs. “

He said he cried for the baby and “I prayed to God, ‘That this boy, when he cries, can receive a kiss and a hug from his mother.’

“This is a call for humanity,” continued the rabbi, “Follow the rules. These babies did nothing wrong. “