Pregnant women in Milton Keynes invited to Q&A session about COVID-19

    Pregnant women are invited to learn about protecting themselves and baby during COVID-19 'Pregnancy and Vaccinations Q & A session'.

    Pregnant women are being reassured by the NHS in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes that having the COVID-19 vaccination is the best and safest way to protect them and their baby from the serious complications that can be caused by the virus.

    NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), has organised an online question and answer session, which women expecting a baby or planning to become pregnant soon and their partners will want to attend.

    During this online Q&A session the public will hear from NHS specialists who will answer questions and concerns about the different COVID-19 vaccines with regards to fertility, pregnancy and breastfeeding.

    The event is open to all residents in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes who are pregnant, breastfeeding or have concerns about fertility, and their partners. It is on Thursday 2 December and with two sessions taking place on the day. The first is from 12.00 – 13.00 with a repeat during an evening session from 19.00 – 20.00. This will give everyone the opportunity to have their questions answered and hear directly from midwives.

    The risk of serious complications is low but a study of more than 340,000 births in England by the National Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes Audit found:

    • Women who tested positive for COVID-19 around the time of birth were twice as likely to have a stillbirth (8.5 in every 1000 births, compared with 3.4 in every 1000 births)
    • The rate of premature birth was twice as high when the mother had COVID-19 at the time of birth (12% compared with 5.8%)
    • Women who tested positive for COVID-19 were more likely to have an emergency caesarean birth compared with those who didn’t have COVID-19 at birth (27.6% compared to 18.5%)

    Jayne Pigott, BLMK Public Health Midwife: “Our Q&A session is open to anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding and their partners to enable them to ask any questions they have about the vaccine.  During the one-hour session, they will hear the latest information about COVID-19 during pregnancy. 

    “Pregnant women with symptomatic COVID-19 are more likely to need intensive care admission than women of the same age who are not pregnant and are also two to three times more likely to have their babies early than women without COVID-19.

    “COVID-19 vaccines offer pregnant women the best protection against COVID-19 disease which can be serious in later pregnancy for some women, so we want to make it as easy as possible for women to access accurate information.

    “The vaccination teams at BLMK have also worked hard to make access as easy as possible for pregnant mums, visit www.blmkccg.nhs.uk/drop-in to find out about details of walk-in sessions in your area.  These need no appointment to attend.

    “I’d strongly encourage anyone who is pregnant and/or breastfeeding to come along to the dedicated online session and ask the experts any questions they have.”

    To take part in this event, visit the 12.00 session here

    or the 7PM session: here to join the webinar on 2 December. Whichever is best for you.

    survey has been set up for questions to be submitted in advance of the webinar, or questions can be asked on the night. 

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