Astra Zeneca Vaccine and Pregnancy

[LizzieSmith]

Hi Everyone!

I wonder if anyone can help me?
I'm Type 1 Diabetic, 28 years old and I'm currently 12 weeks pregnant.

I had my first Astra Zeneca vaccine back in March, just before concerns emerged in the news and it was announced that people under 40 were going to be offered an alternative vaccine.
When I received my first vaccine I was asked if I was pregnant, which at the time I wasn't, and was also advised that it was safe to continue trying for a baby after I had received the first dose.

I subsequently became pregnant a couple of months later, and I found out the day I was due to get my second dose.
I was concerned about getting the second dose after finding out, and contacted my GP for advice. I was told to postpone the second dose until at least until the 12-week point.

I am now at the stage where I feel I need to consider booking a second vaccine, especially because the cases are rapidly on the rise again, but I am still concerned about the safety of the Astra Zeneca in pregnancy, not necessarily because of the blood clot risk, but more because there is less data to support the safety of AZ in pregnancy.

Has anyone else been, or is anyone else in, a similar position?
Did anyone else have the Astra Zeneca during their pregnancy?
Does anyone else know what the advice is for mixing vaccines in pregnancy?

Thank you very much, Lizzie

 

[NicoleC1971]

Hi Lizzie, I am not pregnant but my advice would be to consider the pluses and minuses of taking your 2nd vaccine.
There is a lot of pressure to get a 2nd jab so take a deep breath and think it out, preferably with someone you trust.
I did have a look at the concerns re clotting and the AZ vaccine (Norwegian study showed 1 in 4,00 suffering some thrombotic episode). Vaccine side effects seem to mention incidences of heavy bleeding/periods. The reported side effects are usually only reckoned to be 10% of actual incidents.
However you may feel at 12 weeks you are past the stage where this is likely to be a problem or you may be concerned about the small risk of a blood clot occurring elsewhere in your body.
Getting covid can of course give you some risk of the same problem so this isn't a simple answer! When you weren't trying to get pregnant the pill might have given you similar risks but not getting pregnant when you didn't want to may have made this a risk worth taking.
How at risk are you at age 28 with type 1 diabetes?
The best estimate (Ioanidis December 2021 published by WHO) says across the population the infection fatality rate is 0.15-0.23%. Professor Karr (Diabetes NHS clinical lead I think) said a type 1 had a 3x risk taking this to under 1% risk. But when you consider that most risk is loaded into the over 70s age range your risk is probably even lower. In other words your age really trumps your diabetes as a negative risk factor.
Not saying it isn't a rough illness which may cause you to have difficult sugars but it could also be very mild and you do already have some protection against getting seriously ill from first jab.
The alternative could be to see if you can get the Phizer jab instead though I suspect this isn't in the protocol yet.
I know having done 3 t1 pregnancies though not during an endemic new virus, that this can be a scary time.
I hope you can make a call on this without thinking about vaccine passports or convenience but based upon your own health and the health of your pregnancy, and then enjoy the rest of your pregnancy. I do think getting good bg control will have more of an impact than to be jabbed or not jabbed.

 

[Dark Horse]

This leaflet from the Royal College of Gynaecologist and Obstetricians discusses making an informed decision about having the vaccine during pregnancy. It says, "Extremely rare but serious side effects involving thrombosis (blood clots) have been reported for the AstraZeneca vaccine, but this does not seem to be more likely in pregnant than in non-pregnant people." and "There is emerging data on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy, and no evidence that the vaccines can cause harm to you or your baby."
https://www.rcog.org.uk/globalasset...2-24-combined-info-sheet-and-decision-aid.pdf

The general view is that if an under-40 year old had no problems with the first dose, they shouldn't expect problems with the second dose, although this evidence has been mostly from non-pregnant people. https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2021...heir-second-dose-and-other-questions-answered https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/astraze...-second-oxford-covid-jab-why-explained-947070

I would suggest having another discussion with your GP regarding your concerns.

 

[Andydragon]

Hi Everyone!

I wonder if anyone can help me?
I'm Type 1 Diabetic, 28 years old and I'm currently 12 weeks pregnant.

I had my first Astra Zeneca vaccine back in March, just before concerns emerged in the news and it was announced that people under 40 were going to be offered an alternative vaccine.
When I received my first vaccine I was asked if I was pregnant, which at the time I wasn't, and was also advised that it was safe to continue trying for a baby after I had received the first dose.

I subsequently became pregnant a couple of months later, and I found out the day I was due to get my second dose.
I was concerned about getting the second dose after finding out, and contacted my GP for advice. I was told to postpone the second dose until at least until the 12-week point.

I am now at the stage where I feel I need to consider booking a second vaccine, especially because the cases are rapidly on the rise again, but I am still concerned about the safety of the Astra Zeneca in pregnancy, not necessarily because of the blood clot risk, but more because there is less data to support the safety of AZ in pregnancy.

Has anyone else been, or is anyone else in, a similar position?
Did anyone else have the Astra Zeneca during their pregnancy?
Does anyone else know what the advice is for mixing vaccines in pregnancy?

Thank you very much, Lizzie

NHS advice is here:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coron...rtility-and-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination/

it’s not something I feel remotely qualified to answer, I think you need to speak to your doctors and weigh up the pros and cons for yourself with that discussion

 

[Andydragon]

I did have a look at the concerns re clotting and the AZ vaccine (Norwegian study showed 1 in 4,00 suffering some thrombotic episode). Vaccine side effects seem to mention incidences of heavy bleeding/periods. The reported side effects are usually only reckoned to be 10% of actual incidents.

@NicoleC1971 I think if I have the right study you have made a typo and it’s 1 in 40000

https://www.fhi.no/en/news/2021/nor...side-effects-in-connection-with-astrazeneca-/

 

[EllieM]

First of all, @LizzieSmith welcome to the forums and congratulations on your pregnancy.

Are you seeing a specialist diabetic team for your pregnancy? Honestly, I'd think that they and your GP are the best people to talk to about this, as they will have much more information than those of us on these forums. (Particularly the diabetic clinic).

And as a general comment to those of us quoting statistics on these forums, it's a really really good idea to give a source for your figures. It's alarmingly easy to get google to tell you whatever you want to hear just by quoting the correct search terms, and it's also very easy to accidentally misquote a source when copying figures.

 

[LizzieSmith]

Thank you all very much for your replies, its been great to read all your comments.
I have already spoken with my Diabetic nurse, GP, Midwife and NHS 119, but just trying to get as much information as possible to make an informed decision.
A lot of the answers I'm getting are 'it's completely up to you,' which is of course what I was expecting, but not necessarily helpful.
I was recommended to reach out on here to see if anyone else was in a similar situation, as I don't personally know of anyone else being in this position, although I'm sure there are many.
I'm just hoping to see if anyone else is, or has been, in a similar situation, to see what decisions they made and what influenced this?
Thank you all! Lizzie

 

[NicoleC1971]

First of all, @LizzieSmith welcome to the forums and congratulations on your pregnancy.

Are you seeing a specialist diabetic team for your pregnancy? Honestly, I'd think that they and your GP are the best people to talk to about this, as they will have much more information than those of us on these forums. (Particularly the diabetic clinic).

And as a general comment to those of us quoting statistics on these forums, it's a really really good idea to give a source for your figures. It's alarmingly easy to get google to tell you whatever you want to hear just by quoting the correct search terms, and it's also very easy to accidentally misquote a source when copying figures.

Sorry you're right. Missed a zero.

 

[OB87]

Thank you all very much for your replies, its been great to read all your comments.
I have already spoken with my Diabetic nurse, GP, Midwife and NHS 119, but just trying to get as much information as possible to make an informed decision.
A lot of the answers I'm getting are 'it's completely up to you,' which is of course what I was expecting, but not necessarily helpful.
I was recommended to reach out on here to see if anyone else was in a similar situation, as I don't personally know of anyone else being in this position, although I'm sure there are many.
I'm just hoping to see if anyone else is, or has been, in a similar situation, to see what decisions they made and what influenced this?
Thank you all! Lizzie

I'm type 2 and 24 weeks pregnant. I decided to wait until after the birth for the vaccine. I thought about it but had more reasons to hold off than to go for it. The long term effects on the baby are not yet known as the vaccine is still in a trial period. Plus I have already had covid so I hopefully have some protection from getting severely ill with it. A family member had both jabs and still was unwell so the jab doesn't full protect you. It's a difficult decision to make but you have to do whatever you are comfortable with. I've known a few pregnant women who have had both jabs and were happy they did it.

 

[Bobbiete]

This may be too late to be helpful!

I was in the same position as you: had first dose of AZ and then fell pregnant. I had my second dose but I had the Pfizer. My consultant said this was the safer option and I had to have a letter from my consultant and then contact my GP surgery to arrange (many vaccine centres won’t give you a second dose of a different vaccine so you can’t just book through 111).

It is obviously personal preference but I felt as I’d already had the first dose then it made sense to have the second dose. I was 12+4 weeks when I had the second dose.

 

[TriciaWs]

I'm type 2 and 24 weeks pregnant. I decided to wait until after the birth for the vaccine. I thought about it but had more reasons to hold off than to go for it. The long term effects on the baby are not yet known as the vaccine is still in a trial period.

Obviously your choice whether to have the vaccine, but just to point out that these vaccines passed all three stages of clinical trials before they were signed off for general use so they are not still in a trial period.