Well, if you are unfortunate enough not to have watched the fabulous TV show Ted Lasso this is all going to seem a little obscure. But the crowd chant for the soccer player Roy Kent goes like this:
“He’s here!
He’s there!
He’s every fucking where!
Roy Kent!!!”
Unfortunately, the same seems to apply to the Coronavirus. It’s everywhere. Numbers are going up despite high vaccination rates – although it appears that hospitalisations and severe illness are comparatively rare. This is a testament to the benefits of vaccination.
(I’m in home isolation myself having kissed a woman who turned out to have Covid at the time. That is another story…)
Anyway…
- We know that Covid can be a severe illness for pregnant women and their babies particularly if it is contracted in the second and third trimesters.
- We now know that vaccination against Covid significantly reduces the likelihood of severe illness in pregnant women.
- We know that vaccination against Covid is safe in pregnancy, does not cause miscarriages and does not affect fertility in non-pregnant women.
- While my professional body (RANZCOG) has not yet categorically advised all pregnant women to have a booster shot my strong advice is to do so as soon as you can (currently this is 5 months from your second dose). Make sure you get Pfizer.
And finally, please exercise some common sense (regardless of the NSW government advocating “opening up”). Wear a mask in most settings and avoid large numbers of people in indoor settings. You know the drill. This isn’t over.
Stay safe.
Rob Buist