No COVID-19 Vaccine for Pregnant Women

The Health Ministry says pregnant women would not be allowed to receive a COVID-19 vaccine—at least not right now.

RISHARD KHAN
[email protected]

Pregnant women would not be allowed to receive a COVID-19 vaccine—at least not right now.

Speaking during a Ministry of Health virtual press conference on Monday, Director of the Directorate of Women’s Health, Dr Adesh Sirjusingh, said there is currently a lack of data due to the exclusion of this category from the vaccine clinical trials.  

Pregnant women are among those who fall within the high-risk category for an adverse outcome from a COVID-19 infection.

“We simply do not have enough data to make a clear recommendation on this vulnerable population,” Dr Sirjusingh stated.  

“Our country, therefore, would follow the advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) when it comes to the emergency authorisation use in the population of Trinidad and Tobago, and of course utilise our country’s own situation analysis, which may differ from many others in the world,” he said.

The current situation with COVID-19 infections in pregnant women locally appears to be quite optimistic, as Dr Sirjusingh explained there is yet to be any fatalities in this group.

“Thirty-nine pregnant women in Trinidad have been infected with COVID-19 from our latest data, and these were at different stages of pregnancy.  Some of these women became very ill and required high-dependency unit care and intensive care unit care. However, all mothers and their delivered infants have been successfully managed to date,” he assured.

“No new-born baby has been affected or has had to be hospitalised as a result,” he added.

To date, there have been no reports of pregnant women with COVID-19 in Tobago.