A comparative analysis of data from the two waves by ICMR revealed that symptomatic cases of Covid-19 were significantly higher at 28.7 percent among pregnant and post-partum women during the second wave, compared to 14.2 percent during the first wave. The case fatality rate among such women was also significantly higher during the second wave, at 5.7 percent, compared to 0.7 percent in the first wave.
The study emphasises the importance of immunising pregnant and lactating women against Covid-19 because they were more severely affected during the second wave of the pandemic than the first. During both waves, maternal deaths were estimated to be 2%.
Dr. V K Paul, member (health), NITI Aayog, and AIIMS Director Dr. Randeep Guleria recently announced that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's new guidelines state that "vaccine is absolutely safe for lactating mothers."
In addition to that, the WHO’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) also said that women who are breastfeeding can get their COVID vaccine dose and continue breastfeeding their babies post vaccination.
While Covid-19 vaccination is recommended for all lactating women in India, the government has yet to allow pregnant women to be vaccinated, citing a lack of clinical trial data.
According to the minutes of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) meeting, the group recommended vaccinating pregnant women because the benefits of vaccination may outweigh the risks. It did, however, suggest that women be informed that long-term adverse events and the vaccine's safety for the foetus and child had yet to be established.
