Doctor tells when pregnant women need to be vaccinated against COVID-19

Vaccinated pregnant women are less at risk of complications from COVID-19. The President of the Kyrgyz Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Professor Arsen Askerov, told at a briefing.

According to him, experts from different countries believe that the benefits of vaccination in this case outweigh its risks.

«More than 127,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated in the world. There is an expert assessment of the side effects. In most cases, these are mild reactions: weakness, fever for one or two days, rarely — chest pains. No serious adverse reactions have been reported,» he said.

He added that pregnant women are recommended to get vaccinated, but only with consent and when there are no contraindications. «Especially those who are at risk: overweight, chronic diseases, over 35 years old. COVID-19 during pregnancy can lead to poor health and negatively affect the fetus,» he said.

Arsen Askerov stressed that WHO, international organizations of obstetricians recommend pregnant women to get vaccinated starting from 22 weeks of pregnancy. «Impact of the vaccine in early pregnancy is still being studied,» he said.

According to him, pregnant women can have a more severe form of the new coronavirus infection than non-pregnant. The risk of premature birth or miscarriage increases.

At least 1.2 million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine were delivered to Kyrgyzstan yesterday.