Vaccinating pregnant women: 'Like trying to stop a disaster with bare hands'

Following reports of complications and deaths of pregnant women, kupat holim HMOs in Israel countered with an information blitz reporting a significant increase in the number of pregnant women who have already been vaccinated. This, according to Ynet.

The influx of pregnant women to the vaccination complexes began following a document published about two months ago by the Health Ministry, in collaboration with the Israeli Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Israeli Society of Maternal and Fetal Medicine, calling on pregnant women to be vaccinated and claiming that based on all information accumulated in the world, the vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna given in Israel are safe for both mother and fetus.

In response to a question from Ynet, the Health Ministry said they do not collect vaccine data among pregnant women and that they also do not have information regarding adverse events among pregnant women who have been vaccinated.

Ynet quoted Assuta public hospital in Ashdod Infectious Diseases Unit Director Dr. Tal Brosh saying: "I don’t know of any reports of miscarriages or consequences of this type following the vaccine."

Health communication lecturer at IDC Herzliya International School Dr. Yaffa Shir-Raz responded to the Ynet report, saying: “It feels like trying to stop a disaster with bare hands. The Health Ministry does not even bother to monitor pregnant women, but continues to pro-actively encourage them to get vaccinated, although it was never tested on pregnant women.”