Pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers have been advised by Germany’s vaccine body to get inoculated against Covid with Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech shots after analyzing data on its effectiveness and safety for these groups.
In a press release issued on Friday, Berlin’s Permanent Vaccination Commission recommended that expectant women should receive two doses of an mRNA vaccine from the second trimester onwards.
The advice was further extended to breastfeeding mothers who have not yet completed their full course of vaccination, or have yet to come forward to get inoculated.
“The recommendation is based on a systematic processing of the data available in recent weeks on the risk of severe Covid-19 during pregnancy, as well as on the effectiveness and safety of Covid-19 vaccination in pregnant women and breastfeeding women,” according to the statement.
The commission also called on women to get vaccinated to ensure that they have good immune protection against the disease even before pregnancy begins.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn echoed similar advice from the organization: “My urgent request to all pregnant and breastfeeding women: Ask your doctor. Get vaccinated. You are protecting yourself and your child.”
In August, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that it recommends pregnant women should be jabbed, while the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency further strengthened its advice in favor of vaccine protection for mothers. The British medical watchdog stated that there is no trend that suggests “any of the Covid-19 vaccines used in the UK increase the risk of congenital anomalies or birth complications,” and that “pregnant women have reported similar suspected reactions to the vaccines” as other non-gestating individuals.
According to the latest statistics, almost 62% of Germans have received their first dose of a Covid vaccine, while over 66% are double jabbed.
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