Episode 8: COVID and pregnancy update
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Episode 8 Content and Overview
In episode 8 of the Pregnancy and Childbirth podcast, Dr Greg, obstetrician and gynaecologist, provides an update on the developing COVID-19 situation (as at 29 August 2021).
Listen to this episode to learn about:
What's happening with COVID-19 in Western Sydney
New recommendations regarding COVID vaccination and pregnancy
New recommendations regarding COVID vaccination in breastfeeding
Additional Resources
Pregnancy and Childbirth podcast episode 6: COVID-19 and Pregnancy
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Transcription
00:00:00
Hi, I'm Greg Jenkins and welcome to this episode of My Pregnancy Podcast. Today is the 29th of August 2021 and this episode is going to be an update on COVID and pregnancy. Now if you haven't had to listen to my previous episode on pregnancy and COVID.
00:00:20
It would be worthwhile doing so because I'm not going to recap on the things that I discussed in that episode, but I'm going to provide an update with respect to things that have changed since I recorded that episode. So what has changed in a few weeks since I recorded my episode on COVID and Pregnancy?
00:00:43
There are 3 things that I'm going to touch on today. One is what's happening with COVID in Western Sydney, which as you may be aware, is where my work is based. The 2nd is the new recommendations regarding COVID vaccination and pregnancy, and the 3rd relates to COVID vaccination in breastfeeding where there are some new recommendations as well.
00:01:07
So firstly, what's happening with COVID in Western Sydney at the moment, as you may be aware, Western Sydney is pretty much the epicenter of COVID in Australia at the present time, and unfortunately we're seeing lots of pregnant women being diagnosed with COVID.
00:01:24
Now, as we're seeing and as I mentioned in my previous episode, most of these women are experiencing quite a mild illness, are and are not requiring hospitalization. However, we are seeing quite a number of women admitted to hospital and a small number of women admitted to intensive care and occasions have even occurred where pregnant women have required ventilation.
00:01:50
As the number of pregnant women diagnosed with COVID in Western Sydney continues to increase I expect that we will see a greater number of hospitalizations and unfortunately we will probably see a greater number of women admitted to intensive care with severe COVID illness.
00:02:08
For any women who are pregnant or wishing to become pregnant, my advice to you would be to get vaccinated as soon as you possibly can. And the other really important piece of advice, whether you're vaccinated or not vaccinated is to ensure that you are complying with the public health recommendations.
00:02:28
So, with respect to vaccination in pregnancy, what's changed in the last few weeks? Well, at the time when I recorded my previous episode, the Moderna vaccine was not available in Australia at that time.
00:02:40
Now the Moderna vaccine is similar to the Pfizer vaccine in that it is an mRNA vaccine. It's not identical to the Pfizer vaccine, there are some slight differences, but it is a vaccine which has also now been approved by ATAGI and recommended by RANZCOG as being safe for use in pregnant women.
00:03:04
So as a pregnant woman or a woman who is trying to fall pregnant, either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines would be suitable.
00:03:14
In terms of evidence supporting the safety of COVID vaccination in pregnancy, there have been some new studies published looking at quite large numbers of women are again confirming the vaccine is safe in pregnancy based on all the information that we have currently available with no serious adverse pregnancy events associated with mRNA vaccination that is either Pfizer or Moderna are when given in pregnancy.
00:03:44
The other new piece of information which has come out since I recorded my previous episode relates to COVID vaccination in breastfeeding. So at the time of my last episode, the recommendation from RANZCOG and ATAGI was that Pfizer was the preferred vaccine for our breastfeeding women. This is now being expanded to include the AstraZeneca vaccine.
00:04:10
I should state that at the time I recorded the previous episode, there were no safety concerns around the AstraZeneca vaccine for breast feeding. It was felt at that time that there wasn't sufficient information available to make clear judgment.
00:04:25
Since then, further information has become available and both ATAGI and RANZCOG have supported the AstraZeneca vaccine as being safe and effective for women who are breast feeding. So if you're a breastfeeding woman, any of the 3 available vaccines would be perfectly suitable for you, either AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna.
00:04:48
And as mentioned in the previous episode, once you are vaccinated and you have antibodies, there's good evidence that those antibodies pass through your breast milk to your baby. So they are likely to be beneficial for your baby as well as for yourself.
00:05:02
That's all I wanted to say for this update on COVID in pregnancy and COVID vaccination in pregnancy and breastfeeding. I hope you found this information useful and helpful. Please keep safe, get vaccinated and follow the public health orders. Bye for now.
