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Pregnant Women Encouraged To Get Vaccinated, Some Expecting Moms Still Wary

(CBS DETROIT) - Many expecting moms are still wary of getting the COVID-19 vaccine while still pregnant.

One expecting mom says she's in her ninth month and has no plans of getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Teena Chopra, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Wayne State University, says expecting mothers need to know the benefits of the vaccination and the risks of opting out.

"Pregnant women are at particularly higher risks," said Chopra. "They can have severe complications. It can also harm their unborn baby and can lead to pre-term delivery, which has been shown. And on the other hand, vaccines have been shown to be extremely safe in pregnancy, and there are thousands of women who have been pregnant and have received the covid vaccine, and it has been shown it has been extremely safe."

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and The Society of Maternal and Fetal Medicine recommend vaccines for both pregnant and lactating women.

Dr. Amy Whitten, a Maternal and Fetal Medicine Physician at Beaumont Hospital, says the COVID-19 vaccine can provide some form of immunity to babies when mothers are vaccinated while pregnant.

"We can detect antibodies to the virus in the blood of the baby after birth after a mother has been vaccinated," said Whitten.

Although the CDC has not directly made a recommendation for pregnant women, the organization says they can receive the vaccine.

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