The best time during pregnancy to get a COVID-19 vaccine appears to be right now. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is safe in pregnancy and will not result in giving birth prematurely, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Women often ask what is the best vaccination timing for the baby — our data suggest that it’s now,” study co-author Dr. Malavika Prabhu said in a news release from Weill Cornell Medicine. She is an assistant professor and ob-gyn at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.
A new study found that antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in nearly 1,400 women and their babies at the time of delivery didn’t vary dramatically based on when a woman got her vaccine during pregnancy.
“Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is important for preventing severe illness in pregnant people,” study author Dr. Heather Lipkind, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medicine says.
“With the increasing rates of COVID-19 in our community, we are encouraging pregnant people to get vaccinated,” she said in a Yale news release.
In a new study, published Tuesday, the CDC analyzed 46,079 pregnant women who had live births, with 10,064 of those women receiving at least one dose of the COVID vaccine during their pregnancy.
Results showed that only 6.6 percent of the babies were born prematurely — before 37 weeks — and 8.2 percent were born small for their gestational age — weighing less than 5 lbs. 8 oz.
The CDC concluded that the study’s results show that “birth outcomes did not differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated women.”
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Which trimester is best for getting vaccinated?
While levels were higher when vaccination occurred in a woman’s third trimester, they were comparably high and likely protective when vaccination happened early in pregnancy or even a few weeks before, the study found.
A booster shot late in pregnancy can also make those antibody levels much higher, researchers said.
They said expectant mothers should not