Pregnant women avoiding vax due to fever fear: Doctors

MUMBAI: The fear of fever as an after-effect could be keeping thousands of pregnant women from getting the vaccine against Covid, believe gynaecologists. The doctors have called for a massive awareness drive if the state wants success in vaccinating its estimated 20 lakh pregnant women.

In Mumbai, where the drive started on July 15, merely 429 have taken the shot so far. The city has an estimated 1.5 lakh pregnant women.
“The response has been guarded so far. Developing fever after vaccination is the big concern expressed by most. We have been trying to counsel that it is mostly mild and resolves in a day or two, but there is hesitancy,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, BMC’s executive health officer. Of the pregnant women vaccinated so far, only one had a bout of vomiting that required hospitalisation of a few days, she said, adding that no other serious adverse events were noted in those who got vaccinated.
Post-jab fever not risky for pregnant women: Docs
Gynaecologist Nikhil Datar said fear of fever is one of the biggest reasons behind vaccine hesitancy of expecting mothers, and explained why post-immunisation fever is not risky for them. “There is a crucial message that we need to spread. The fever after immunisation is the body’s immune response and largely harmless. They shouldn’t confuse it with the fever one gets following an infection,” said Datar. It is common knowledge that getting fever can be hazardous to pregnancy.
The fear is more among women in the third trimester, said Goregaon gynaecologist Sudhir Naik. “Many getting the vaccine in the second trimester worry that the second dose would come in the third trimester. We tell them the fever would be no different from the one they suffer during regular bouts of cold and cough,” he said, adding that an awareness campaign that vaccination is safe in any trimester was necessary.
Little is known about how the drive is faring in the rest of the state as districts are not keeping a count of vaccination among pregnant women. Dr Raj Gehlot, district health officer of Chandrapur, called the response “mixed”. Officials from three more districts confirmed that they have not been asked to maintain data.
Dr Pradeep Vyas, additional chief secretary (health), said CoWin does not capture pregnant women data. “It is not required at the time of registration either. In the vaccinator module, the government of India has created a drop-down menu but still no reports are generated,” he said, adding that daily reporting will not be possible from 4,000 sites.
The Centre had released a statement on July 30, saying 2.3 lakh pregnant women had taken the vaccine across India. States leading the chart were Tamil Nadu (78,838), followed by Andhra Pradesh (34,228), Odisha (29,821), MP (21,842), Kerala (18,423) and Karnataka (16,673). Since then, TN has vaccinated 1.9 lakh pregnant women.