A new study in Israel suggests that the Pfizer vaccine against COVID may offer significant protection to pregnant women from the coronavirus.
According to a report Wednesday morning by Israel Hayom, the study, which was carried out by the Maccabi HMO, the vaccine is no less effective in reducing the risk of symptomatic COVID infections among pregnant women than the general population.
The study found that the Pfizer vaccine is 97% effective with pregnant women, with only a fraction of a percent of unvaccinated pregnant women getting infected with COVID.
Currently, there are dozens of women hospitalized with the coronavirus, none of whom were vaccinated, the study found. In total, 62 pregnant women were hospitalized with coronavirus infections since the pandemic began. All 62 were unvaccinated.
In total, 8.1% of unvaccinated pregnant women studied became ill with the virus, compared to just 0.05% of pregnant women who were vaccinated.
“The data on pregnant women paints a clear picture: a pregnant woman who gets vaccinated protects herself,” said Dr. Anat Ekka Zohar, the head of the Quality, Research and Digital Health Division at Maccabi.
“The comparison shows the huge differences in infection rates in general, and for serious infections especially, between vaccinated an unvaccinated women.”
“The last few days have shown us how dangerous it is for pregnant women not to get vaccinated.”
The Maccabi study comes on the heels of a study conducted by Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and Hebrew University which found that the vaccine protects both pregnant women and their unborn children form the virus.
The study, which included dozens of women who were vaccinated in the last trimester of their pregnancies, showed that they all developed antibodies against the virus and that their fetuses developed the same antibodies, Channel 12 News reported.
In addition, a direct relationship was found between the level of antibodies in the mother and the newborn - which indicates that the antibodies that developed in the mother pass efficiently from the mother to the fetus through the placenta.