Pregnant people are still not getting vaccinated against COVID

“There's so much social messaging around pregnancy that makes pregnant people feel like everything around them could be a threat.” Within these communities, any whisper of potential harm to a parent or baby will spread like wildfire.To be crystal clear: The data has resoundingly shown the vaccines to be safe. Public health bodies in different parts of the world have repeatedly changed tack: First the vaccines weren’t offered to pregnant people. (Even today, the webpage concerning the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency’s public assessment of the Pfizer vaccine currently warns that “sufficient reassurance of safe use of the vaccine in pregnant women cannot be provided at the present time” and that women who are breastfeeding should also not be vaccinated—both untrue.)Male points to Canada as a country that handled it better: Authorities clearly communicated any changes in policy, she says, and as a result, the percentage of fully vaccinated pregnant people is significantly higher compared to the US and the UK. In the meantime, communication from health authorities faltered, says Male, “and that's definitely a space where the people who, for whatever reason, want to spread misinformation can prey on that population.”That we needed to prioritize pregnant people for vaccination should never have been a surprise, says Male. “If we ever end up in another situation like this, I think if we think that pregnant people are going to need to be vaccinated, then we do need to include them in the trials,” she says.Shah believes the failure to prioritize the pregnant, and the grim repercussions of that, is something we should have foreseen and prepared for.