Pittsburgh doctor weighs in on research showing COVID-19 vaccine is safe for pregnant women

PITTSBURGH — There’s more research out showing the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are safe for pregnant women.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released its first analysis of 30,000 pregnant women who got them.

Dr. Michael Aziz, a maternal fetal medicine specialist with Allegheny Health Network, says this is “really exciting news that the coronavirus vaccine is not associated with early pregnancy bad outcomes, like miscarriage or fetal malformation.”

The research also shows the COVID-19 vaccines studied are not associated with major medical complications of pregnancy, like hypertension, diabetes or preterm birth.

Aziz says pregnant women are considered high risk for adverse outcomes of the coronavirus.

“We’ve found that pregnant women are more likely to end up in the intensive care unit and more likely to end up on mechanical ventilation,” said Aziz.

So now, no matter the trimester, AHN doctors want their pregnant patients to get the COVID-19 shot.

“Because it looks like the benefits of the coronavirus vaccine are more than the risks of getting the vaccine, we are recommending it now,” said Aziz.

Christine Fabrizio is so glad to hear that.

She’s pregnant and a nurse at West Penn Hospital, so she’s been on the frontlines of the pandemic.

“I was actually one of the first people at West Penn to be vaccinated, and I’m pretty sure I was one of the first pregnant people in Allegheny County,” said Fabrizio.

She didn’t think twice about getting the Pfizer vaccine

“Family first,” said Fabrizio, who has a 3-year-old at home.

She encourages other pregnant women to get the COVID-19 shot, which is now available to them in Pennsylvania because they’re in Phase 1A of the state’s vaccine rollout.

“They don’t want to get COVID at the end of pregnancy. It’s scary. They’ll be alone and isolated if they have to get admitted to the hospital with COVID, and no one wants that for them or their baby,” said Fabrizio.

If you’re wondering how she handled the shot:

“No issues with the first vaccine,” she said. “When I got the booster, I had a good bit of the side effects: the sore arm, the swollen lymph nodes, and that feeling of being sick and shivering. But after that, no issues.”

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was not part of the study.

Local doctor reacts to new CDC guidelines that fully vaccinated people can gather without masks

Cox Media Group