The central government on Friday approved covid-19 vaccination for pregnant women.
"The Ministry of Health has issued guidelines that covid-19 vaccine can be given to the pregnant women. The vaccine is useful for the pregnant women and it should be given," said Dr Balram Bhargava, Director-General at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said while addressing a press conference.
The move comes few weeks after the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended vaccination in pregnant women when the benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential risks. In an interim guidance on covid-19 vaccination of pregnant and lactating women issued earlier this month, the apex global public health agency said that covid-19 vaccines can be given to pregnant women, if they are at high risk of exposure to covid-19 and if they have co-morbid conditions that place them in high risk of severe covid-19 disease.
The Indian government recommended covid-19 vaccination for all lactating women in India, though pregnant women were till now not allowed for the same. The government had cited lack of clinical trial data to take a decision on vaccinating pregnant women against covid-19 stating that the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) evaluating scientific evidence to give the idea a green signal.
The decision assumes importance as a recent study by the ICMR showed that second wave of covid-19 pandemic hit pregnant and postpartum women more severely compared to the first, with significantly higher symptomatic cases and case fatality rate. Symptomatic cases were significantly higher at 28.7% in the second wave (111/387), compared to the first wave (162/1143) when the proportion was 14.2%, the study showed. The case fatality rate (CFR) among pregnant women and postpartum women was 5.7% (22/387) during the second wave, which was significantly higher compared to the scenario encounter in the first wave with CFR 0.7% (8/1143), the study said.
According to the study, the total number of maternal deaths during both the waves of pandemic were 2% (30/1530), of which the majority (28/30) were due to covid-19 pneumonia and respiratory failure.
Gynaecologists have welcomed the move. “This is the end of a long wait and is a welcome move. Hundreds and thousands of pregnant women across India will breathe a sigh of relief as they become eligible for a vaccination against covid-19. In the second wave, too many pregnant women suffered the loss of a baby and other complications,” said Dr Gauri Agarwal, Gynaecology & IVF Expert, Seeds of Innocence.
“With the mutations in the virus, protecting them was increasingly becoming a challenge. Now, it is up to the government to provide the right quantity of vaccine at the earliest to ensure we can inoculate as many women as possible. adding to it, the pregnant women vaccination should be done under the supervision of a gynaecologist,” she said.
