The coronavirus pandemic has been across the globe for almost a year. The deadly virus has taken numerous, precious lives and is continuing to pose a threat to the whole world. No matter what age you are, COVID-19 is likely to affect you.
Lately, after a lot of research and trials, the COVID vaccine has been introduced. Numerous people are taking vaccine shots to protect themselves from the coronavirus. Although almost everyone who has access to the COVID-19 vaccine is taking it, it is still not clear whether taking the vaccine is safe for breastfeeding moms and their children or not.
One thing is certain: All mothers care about their child's health. When you’re breastfeeding, whatever you consume or put into your body – including a vaccine – has a direct impact on your children's health. Subsequently, the choice of whether to burn-through the antibody is a genuine one.
Is the COVID vaccine proven safe for breastfeeding women?
There were some clinical preliminaries to test the immunizations for COVID. In the first phase, different people were injected with the vaccine to monitor the results. However, mothers like us, who are breastfeeding their children, were not tested. Therefore, the final answer to the question of whether the vaccine is safe for our health and the health of our children cannot be provided until further testing is done.
However, one surprising fact is that as the healthcare workers were injected with the vaccine first, out of twenty-one million, about 300,000 were either pregnant or breastfeeding. In the recent peer view results, vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna demonstrated successful results, which is a good sign for all of us mothers out there.
How does the vaccine work?
There are currently two vaccines that are likely to vaccinate us from the novel coronavirus: one is Pfizer, and the other one is Moderna. For vaccination, an individual needs to take two shots of any of the two vaccines. Both of these vaccines, unlike the majority of other vaccines, do not consist of live or weakened viruses. Of late, after a great deal of examination and preliminaries, the COVID antibody has been presented. Various individuals are making antibody efforts to shield themselves from the Corona Virus.
When a nurse injects the vaccine into your body, the synthetic material in the vaccine prompts your body to initiate an immune response. So, when the actual novel coronavirus affects you, your body remains protected. Immediately the RNA degrades and delivers a message to the immune system of the body without changing the DNA.
So, the virus does not affect you directly. Therefore, by itself and in it, the vaccine does not have any long-term effects other than a few minor ones, like a mild fever and some body aches.
Experts on Vaccinating Breastfeeding Women
Although the choice is still on us – the mothers – on whether or not to take the vaccine, experts put the lactating mothers' safety above everything. Hence, the professionals recommend breastfeeding mothers to take the vaccine shots after the COVID vaccine is tested and proven safe for everyone's usage. Furthermore, mothers develop altered immunity, so there is a chance that vaccines have different results in breastfeeding mothers than in the general population. So, abnormalities of the vaccine reactions are expected.
The Decision: Should you take the vaccine or not?
Factually, we mothers care a lot about our kids, and the pandemic situation has increased our worries. In such a situation, deciding to take vaccine shots or not can be extremely difficult. So, if you are expecting or breastfeeding a child, then there are certain things you should reflect on before making the decision; for instance:
- Get a consultation from your practitioner to assess the possibility of risks for you and your child
- Measure whether the risks of COVID-19 are greater than the risk of the after-effects of the vaccine
- Check if there are any other possible complications for you and your baby
The Final Word
Taking care of the health of your baby and yourself is of great significance. In such a situation, the decision as to whether the vaccine is safe or not is a tough one. Therefore, if you, as a mother, can wait until the COVID vaccine is tested and proven for a longer period of time, then that might be best; but if you and your practitioner feel it is safe and your personal risk is low, then get your vaccine shots.
