The President of the Ontario Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology praises the state’s move to include pregnant women in the priority recipe entry list in the next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination program.
Dr. Constance Nasello said pregnant women were excluded from the initial trials of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, but there is increasing evidence that the vaccines are safe for them.
Ontario health officials released details of the state’s vaccination program on Friday, citing pregnancy as a factor that puts someone at risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19.
This means that pregnant women are eligible to be vaccinated during the second phase of vaccine deployment.
According to Nassero, many people infected with COVID-19 during pregnancy have mild symptoms, but there is evidence that pregnancy is a risk factor for more severe symptoms that require hospitalization.
Saskatchewan is the only other state that explicitly includes pregnant women in its vaccine priority list, listing pregnant women with serious heart disease in the second phase of the state’s vaccination program.
Ontario doctors praise the decision to include pregnant women in the coronavirus vaccine priority list