COVID shot is safe during pregnancy, Canadian doctors say after U.S. move – National [Video]

Canada’s gynecologists say COVID-19 vaccination “remains safe and strongly recommended” during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada issued the assurance Wednesday, a day after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a longtime anti-vaccine activist — declared the shot is no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women south of the border.

Pregnant women who become infected with COVID-19 are at higher risk of severe illness requiring hospitalization and intensive care than women who are not pregnant, the SOGC said.

Getting the COVID-19 vaccine also helps protect against serious complications associated with the virus, such as preterm birth, it said.

“We have mounting, increasing scientific evidence about the impact of COVID-19 infection or other respiratory viruses on pregnant people and how vaccination does reduce that,” Dr. Darine El-Chaar, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at The Ottawa Hospital said in an interview.

El-Chaar, who was also speaking on behalf of …