Local doctor recommends COVID-19 vaccine for most pregnant women

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — According to one local doctor, data available so far shows COVID-19 vaccines are safe for pregnant women.

Dr. Laura Klein cares for high-risk pregnant women as medical director of maternal-fetal medicine at UCHealth Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs.

During a press conference with the state health department, she acknowledged while the data regarding pregnant women receiving COVID-19 vaccines is very new, however, she said the information is promising.

“So far those data are very reassuring,” said Dr. Klein. “There’s no signs of any higher risks of pregnancy complications in women who get vaccinated. That includes early delivery, miscarriage, low birth weight.”

Dr. Klein said that’s based on 30,000 pregnant women who have documented their experience receiving the COVID-19 vaccine to the CDC.

“When patients ask me about COVID-19 vaccinations, I generally encourage them to get vaccinated,” she said.

While doctors are comfortable administering flu and Tdap vaccines to pregnant women, Klein says medical providers stay away from live-virus vaccines, like measles or chickenpox. None of the available COVID-19 vaccines are live-virus vaccines.

“Those antibodies are really protective for babies,” said Dr. Klein. “They cross the placenta and get in the baby’s bloodstream, protecting the baby in the first couple months of life to help them fight infection before their immune systems have fully matured.”

At the same Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment press conference, state leaders say five cases of the India variant have been identified in Mesa County. Investigators said none of the patients have traveled recently. Authorities are looking into how the variant got to Colorado. 

The announcement comes just two days after the Biden administration restricted travel to India over COVID-19 concerns.