Ontario doctors to urge pregnant women to get vaccinated against COVID-19

The Ontario Medical Association says it plans to make a concerted effort this week to urge pregnant women to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dr. Constance Nasello, chair of the OMA's section on obstetrics and gynecology, said obstetricians and gynecologists will remind women across the province to get their two doses because COVID-19 vaccination rates of pregnant women in Ontario are relatively low compared to that of the overall eligible population.

According to the ICES COVID-19 Dashboard, 68 per cent of pregnant women, age 12 to 64, have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 60 per cent have had two doses, up until Oct. 3, 2021. In the same time period, 84 per cent of eligible Ontarians have had one dose, while 79 per cent have had two doses.

"Please, please get vaccinated, you'll protect yourself," Nasello said in a message to pregnant women in Ontario.

"The antibodies that you make will cross the placenta to protect your baby. And please, get everyone around you vaccinated because the safest way to prevent spread of this virus and to prevent more variants that could be potentially even more virulent from emerging is for more and more people to be vaccinated. Protect yourself, protect your family."

Nasello, based in Chatham, Ont., said it's important for doctors to make this push now because pregnant women continue to be at higher risk of becoming seriously ill if they get COVID-19. The OMA has 44,000 members, including 31,500 of whom are practicing doctors.

Five per cent of pregnant women who get COVID-19 require admission to hospital, and of that number, 10 per cent end up in intensive care units for long periods of time. Pregnant women in ICUs and their fetuses have to be monitored closely and the data shows that women who acquire COVID-19 are more likely to deliver prematurely, she said.

"All in all, it's an unfortunate, unfortunate situation and one that can be completely prevented by vaccination," she said.

"Our goal is to actually try to reach as many people as possible with the most up to date information and answer their questions and hope that they will choose to become vaccinated."

According to the Ontario health ministry, several organizations say COVID-19 vaccine is safe and recommended for pregnant women, those who are breastfeeding or those who are trying to conceive. The organizations include:

"You can safely get the COVID-19 vaccine before becoming pregnant or in any trimester of pregnancy," the ministry said in an email on Saturday.

"The benefits of getting vaccinated to prevent potential complications in pregnancy far outweigh the risks. Not only will the vaccine protect you from COVID-19 infection, it will reduce the risk of severe illness and complications related to COVID-19 infections in pregnancy," it continued.

"Studies suggest the antibodies your body develops following vaccination will pass to your baby, which may keep them safe after birth."

Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, said on Thursday that vaccination is important for women who are trying to become pregnant, or who are pregnant, or who are breastfeeding.