In Pakistan, 700,000 women on average suffer from complications during pregnancy and not being vaccinated against the coronavirus can increase the risk of complications, stressed health experts on Wednesday.
Speaking at a webinar titled 'Pregnancy in Covid and importance of vaccines,' organised by the Dow University of Health Sciences in association with the American Society for Microbiology, senior doctors highlighted the importance of immunisation against the coronavirus for expecting mothers. By some estimates, the death rate in Pakistan thus far due to Covid complications during childbirth is at eight per cent, the webinar was told.
Pregnant women are among the most vulnerable groups when it comes to Covid, said DUHS Pro Vice Chancellor Dr Nusrat Shah Kamal. It is imperative that they be immunised as soon as possible, she stressed, dismissing rumours suggesting the vaccine poses risks to the mother or the child. She added that the antibodies developed against the virus would also be transmitted to the child during breastfeeding.
The speakers mentioned that while no accurate statistics are available in Pakistan, research in Iran shows that women with Covid are at increased risk of having premature births, stillborn children or in need of caesareans - C-section deliveries.
Read More: Covid vaccine safe for pregnant women: expert
DUHS Pathology Prof and Ambassador of the American Society in Pakistan Saeed Khan said that 700,000 out of every five million in Pakistan suffer from some form of complication during pregnancy. It is feared that the number of complications among women who are not vaccinated against Covid will increase, he said.
He emphasised that all vaccines being administered in Pakistan have been approved by the World Health Organisation and expecting mothers do not need a doctor's prescription to be vaccinated.
Similarly, DUHS gynecology and obstetrics professors Dr Nazli Hussain and Dr Rafat Jalil stressed that there should be no ambiguity around the vaccine. It is also safe for women who get pregnant through In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), they clarified.
The doctors reminded participants that women's immunity is weakened during pregnancy, which can lead to various diseases including pneumonia and influenza. Before the pandemic, women would also receive influenza and other vaccines during pregnancy, they reminded.
Most vaccines against the coronavirus are at least 50 per cent effective, which is at least 50 per cent more protection against the virus and when pregnant women are already at risk, this should not be ignored, according to the senior doctors.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2021.
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