HSE chief Paul Reid has expressed his “concern” that pregnant women are, by and large, not getting vaccinated.
The remarks were made after the Rotunda Maternity Hospital in Dublin conducted a survey, which found that only 39% of its patients were fully vaccinated, and only 41% of their partners.
This contrasts starkly with the figures for the general population, with 80% of the country’s adults being fully-vaccinated, and 90% having received one dose at least.
“There is no doubt that there has been a lower uptake in pregnant women for the vaccine versus the rest of the population by any comparison of any age groups, so that would be something we would have concerns about,” said Reid, speaking on Newstalk this week.
“I know the colleges have come out now again encouraging all healthcare workers to bring pregnant women through the risk and benefits and letting them make an informed decision. That is something we are going to keep communicating strong on.”
Notably, Journal.ie editor Sinéad O’Carroll celebrated the call for a campaign around vaccines in pregnancy, adding that “Not all of this is in the hands of pregnant people.”
But there’s also a few things bothering me about the chat around low uptake.
Not all of this is in the hands of pregnant people.
Signing up and getting the vaccine for this cohort wasn’t as easy as the portal – because we weren’t made a priority group and then the hack.
— Sinéad O'Carroll (@SineadOCarroll) August 12, 2021
Last month Moderna launched its clinical trial testing for whether its vaccine causes stillbirths or miscarriages in pregnant women.
Moderna launches clinical trial testing whether its Covid vaccine leads to miscarriages or stillbirths in pregnant women https://t.co/wNjKfUInuU
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) July 14, 2021
However, Irish hospitals have already been distributing that to pregnant women since mid-May.
Those who express interest will be provided with information about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine (Moderna), and will be asked to complete an online form to register.
— The Rotunda Hospital (@RotundaHospital) May 11, 2021
Additionally, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been undergoing clinical trials in pregnant women since February.
Happy to share that we have started a global clinical trial to evaluate the Pfizer/BioNTech #COVID19 vaccine’s safety, tolerability and immunogenicity in healthy pregnant women 18 and older. You can click here to learn more about the study: https://t.co/03bdw6qxLI pic.twitter.com/P5UUI4uN7T
— Albert Bourla (@AlbertBourla) February 18, 2021