Welcome to Living Healthy Chicago.
I'm Jane Clauss.
A question on the minds of many women
regarding pregnancy and COVID-19,
is whether or not they should get vaccinated.
And since it's important to know all the facts,
we stopped by Northwestern Medicine
to talk to Dr. Elisheva Shanes
to find out more about the latest research.
So Dr. Shanes, you actually worked on the research here
for COVID-19 and pregnancy.
And I think the biggest question
that everybody wants to know,
is the vaccine safe for moms to be and their babies.
- So all the research we've done here
at Northwestern Memorial Hospital
and Lurie Children's Hospital
has suggested that vaccines are in fact very safe
for pregnant women.
There's no ill effects on the women or on their babies.
What we especially do in my research group also,
is we look at the placentas.
The placenta is a little bit like a black box
and that we can look at it
and we can determine a little bit what is going on
during fetal life and during pregnancy.
We looked at placentas from quite a number of women
who both have had COVID and who've been vaccinated.
And while we do see some changes
associated with COVID infection,
we don't see anything in the women who've been vaccinated.
So it appears to be very safe for the placenta
and also for the woman and for the fetus.
- So once the mother develops the antibodies,
is that passed along to the baby?
- Yes, in fact, pregnant women who are vaccinated
during pregnancy, we've checked the antibody responses
in the babies, and they do have antibodies
that have been passed down.
And so they're actually protected from COVID
from the moment of birth.
- At one point during pregnancy,
should the woman get vaccinated?
- The best answer to that is as soon as possible.
We really want pregnant women to be protected against COVID.
What we do know is that COVID-19,
as a disease is quite dangerous in pregnant women.
Pregnant women can get especially sick
when they have COVID-19,
and it can also actually affect,
there's a higher rate of stillbirth in COVID-19
and a higher rate of preterm delivery as well.
An mRNA vaccine
really doesn't have a plausible biologic reason
to negatively impact the fetus.
The mRNA itself, which has given in the vaccine,
it stays local in somebody's arm
when they're given the vaccine,
and then everything beyond that is an immune response.
And, you know, you might suggest that immune response
in and of itself might impact a fetus.
But the truth is that we know very well that COVID itself
has a very strong immune response,
which could impact the fetus as well.
That the vaccine seems to be...
by all the things that we've looked at,
parameters that we've looked at,
it seems to be much safer than actually getting COVID.
- And what would you say to somebody
who is a little reluctant to get that vaccine?
- You know, it's really understandable.
Women are wanting to protect their babies.
I would say it's reassuring
that there are a lot of women before you.
A lot of pregnant women starting with a lot of physicians,
nurses, texts within our own hospital.
We have a lot of scientific evidence right now
that COVID itself is dangerous in pregnancy
and that the vaccines are safe.
And I would really encourage people
to just follow this advice.
You know, all of the professional organizations
now support vaccination during pregnancy
because the evidence is so strong.
- [JANE CLAUSS] That scientific evidence in research
was what ultimately helped
Kenna Johnson decide to get vaccinated
when she was expecting her son, Logan.
- So it was right around 30, 32 weeks,
that, that research was coming out,
which made me feel better.
And I spoke about it with my doctor.
My doctor also heavily recommended getting the vaccine.
- [JANE CLAUSS] Kenna says she was especially grateful
to find out that getting vaccinated while pregnant
would also offer Logan some protection.
- I felt so lucky that I was able to get the vaccine
while I was pregnant.
And he has these antibodies and there's research behind it,
Plenty to worry about with pregnancy.
So, and COVID, and the pandemic
has been a whole other layer to that.
So being able to have a sigh of relief with that
is definitely a good thing.
- [JANE CLAUSS] Everything went well with her pregnancy
and she can enjoy time with Logan
knowing he's protected too.
- It's been great feeling,
again, very lucky to have a healthy and happy baby
and feel healthy and happy myself.
- [JANE CLAUSS] Kenna says her message to other moms
would be to trust the research and get vaccinated.
- Pregnancy is tough.
At the end of the day,
you really want to do what's best for the baby.
And trying to figure that out can be a complicated process
for each and every person.
But you know, there's a lot of research and effort
going into making sure that the mom's safe
and the baby is safe.
So being able to trust that research, trust your doctor.
Once that research was out and my doctor recommended it,
it was a pretty easy decision.