Know someone who is pregnant? Make sure they have their Covid-19 vaccine

Pregnant women in Kent and Medway are being urged to have their free Covid-19 vaccination to protect them and their baby.

Hundreds of thousands of pregnant women worldwide have been vaccinated, safely and effectively protecting themselves against COVID and dramatically reducing their risk of serious illness or harm to their baby.

The new figures, released on Friday, also reveal that no pregnant women with both doses of the vaccine had been admitted to hospital.

It’s really easy for pregnant women who have yet to be vaccinated to grab a jab; they can book online or turn up to a walk-in clinic without an appointment. Details of these clinics are listed on our website.

Paula Wilkins, Chief Nurse at NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, said:  “We are seeing pregnant women with the virus that have not been jabbed being admitted to hospitals and so we are really encouraging more ladies to be vaccinated to prevent this.

 “We want to reassure pregnant women that COVID-19 vaccines are the safest and best way to protect you and your baby from severe illness and premature birth. 

“Please book now or visit a walk-in centre where you do not need an appointment. You can have the vaccine at any stage of your pregnancy and you should not worry about the vaccine giving you Covid as it does not contain any live virus.”

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has updated its guidance about the vaccine and pregnancy. On its website you can find questions and answers and links to more information to help make informed decisions about vaccination in pregnancy.

Nationally, in the past three months, one in three pregnant women in hospital with Covid-19 in England required additional respiratory support (33 per cent) with more than a third developing pneumonia (37 per cent) and around one in seven needing intensive care (15 per cent).

RCOG highlights  robust real-world data from the United States – where more than  130,000 pregnant women who have been vaccinated mainly with mRNA vaccines, such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna,  have not raised any safety concerns.

A helpline is running in Kent and Medway and can provide further information on the vaccine. Phone 0330 320 4444, between 8.30am and 5pm Monday to Friday.