The General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Justice Yankson, has disclosed that pregnant women in the country are not being vaccinated yet due to the vaccine not being safe for use on them.
Speaking on reports that some pregnant women are being infected, he averred that it is unfortunate but they also cannot be vaccinated to protect them. He said, if something can be done for the mother, it is always important that situation should not harm the child in the process.
Dr. Yankson indicated that the scientific community is doing its best to ensure the vaccine is safe for use for everybody including pregnant women as well as children. He explained that, like all other drugs and vaccines, they always stick to the standard protocols because there is the need to ensure that the safety profile of any drug or any vaccine is tested to be sure that, if it is administered to a pregnant woman or child there aren’t going to be problems.
“When it comes to pregnant women and children or babies in embryo, as we say the fetus, they are vulnerable. The scientific community and the world at large are looking at all these things to make sure that ultimately, as and when we get to the point where we are certain that a particular vaccine is safe for everybody including pregnant women and children, it will be administered.
“So, as we give a drug or a vaccine to anybody who is pregnant, there are two people you are thinking of, the unborn child and the mother. If on the surface the mother is safe to take, it might not necessarily mean that the unborn child is also safe to take it. Because usually what happens is that when medication is given, some of them could cross the placenta barrier and go to the fetus and that will create problems.”
Dr. Yankson
Drugs create problems for pregnant women
Dr. Yankson posited that throughout history, there are drugs that have created problems for mothers and their unborn children. The situation, he explained, is what scientists want to avoid and that is the reason for safety profile.
“We have to be such that everybody would have gone through the mill in terms of research to be sure and to conclude that vaccine A or drug A be given to the mother and the unborn child at large.”
Dr.Yankson
Dr. Yankson speaking on if there are alternatives ways aside vaccination for pregnant women indicated that the only way is through adhering to safety protocols. He added that pregnant women will have to ensure that, they don’t let their guard down at anytime because that is the surest way to ensuring that they don’t get the disease
“As we speak, pregnant women are not being given the vaccine because of the safety concerns that we are all talking about. So, the research will have to continue. Under this current pandemic situation, beyond the vaccine, there is none better than the preventive protocols. It’s difficult but that is what we all have to stick to and as we say, prevention is better than cure.”
Dr. Yankson
He concluded that for now, the vaccine generally has not been approved for use by pregnant women but once it is approved, the health professionals will be confident in administering the vaccine.
