Covid may cause pre-term delivery: Govt on why pregnant women must take jabs

The risks of premature delivery gets heightened by Covid infection among pregnant women and then it endangers two lives, the health ministry said on Friday, urging pregnant women to take vaccines.

The Centre on Friday said pregnant women must take vaccines against Covid-19 without any hesitation as all scientific studies are now in favour of pregnant women getting vaccinated. In fact, pregnant women should take vaccines for two special reasons, Niti Aayog member (health) VK Paul said. "The impact of Covid-19 in pregnant women is not different from that of others. But for pregnant women, Covid becomes a serious disease as the physiology of pregnant women at that point of time is different," Dr Paul explained.

A Pune woman who is eight months pregnant is getting her first vaccination at a hospital after the government recommended Covid vaccination for pregnant women. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

"There might be or might not be some other pregnancy-related complications. It is the question of two lives. But it is not the only reason. There are risks of pre-term delivery too if a pregnant woman gets infected by Covid. Then it affects both the mother and the premature baby. So the vaccine has been recommended as it can prevent such complications," Dr Paul said.

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The ministry has recently issued a guideline allowing the vaccination of pregnant women in India. All the three vaccines available in India -- Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik -- are safe for pregnant women and they should take it, the government has said.

The vaccination drive in India began in January but pregnant women were not allowed to take vaccines as the clinical trials did not include pregnant women. "We took time to recommend vaccination for pregnant women as studies were going on and now as all studies are in favour of vaccination for pregnant women, we are strongly recommending it," Dr Paul said.

Pregnant women do not need to undergo any test before being vaccinated, the government said adding that the vaccine is safe for menstruating women and has no effect on the fertility of both men and women.