Sarnia-Lambton's top doctor says there's now a much stronger case for immunizing pregnant women against COVID-19.
Lambton Medical Officer of Health Dr. Sudit Ranade joined Sue Storr on CHOK (103.9FM, 1070 AM) Tuesday morning.
Ranade said unlike the start of the vaccination rollout, thousands of women of childbearing age have now been vaccinated, including those who didn't know that they were pregnant at the time.
"What they've done is they've followed thousands of these women who have been immunized while they were pregnant -- either because they consented or because at the time, they didn't know that they were pregnant -- and then you follow them to see what are their birth outcomes like? And do those birth outcomes change significantly from people that are not vaccinated? And so far, the studies are telling us that there is no significant difference in birth outcome."
Lambton Medical Officer of Health Dr. Sudit Ranade at a mass vaccination clinic. (Photo by Lambton Public Health)
Ranade said when you couple that with the fact that we are seeing more younger people in the ICUs with the delta variant, it makes a much stronger case for immunizing people during their pregnancy.
"We know that if you are pregnant and you get a respiratory virus, that's likely to be more severe. It may have consequences for you and the baby, but at the same time, if you're young, the risk of COVID disease is fairly low and so you have to balance these risks individually, with help from a trusted healthcare professional."
Ranade added that most trusted healthcare professionals will tell pregnant women to go ahead and vaccinate.
-With files from Sue Storr