Covid boosters safe during pregnancy, UW Medicine study concludes
Researchers at the University of Washington say that Covid-19 booster shots appear to be effective and safe during pregnancy.
"When you vaccinate a pregnant individual, she makes protection and passes it to her baby via cord blood and then breast milk in the postpartum period, so you're getting two protections for one shot," said Dr. Linda Eckert, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UW.
UW Medicine conducted a study that included more than 17,000 people. The results of the study were recently published. Read more about the study here.
Boosters that target the omicron strains became available last week.
Dr. Eckert says that pregnant people, and anyone who's gone at least two months since their last booster, should get the updated shots. She says the accumulation of data since the beginning of the pandemic points to the safety of the vaccines.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued a new advisory encouraging pregnant people to get vaccinated against Covid.
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John O'Brien
Senior Producer, All Things Considered
John O’Brien is KUOW's All Things Considered Senior Producer. He spends his days setting up interviews with newsmakers on subjects from politics and public health to arts and culture. John learned to make radio starting in 2006 as an intern on KUOW’s The Conversation with Ross Reynolds.
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