A Bendigo mother-to-be has chosen to follow the Australian health advice and decided to receive her Pfizer vaccine.
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Anna is 34 weeks pregnant and received her first dose of Pfizer on Monday, a decision she thought long and hard about.
"It was a really hard decisions to make," she said. "Initially, when I heard the Pfizer vaccine had been approved for pregnant people I was all for it.
"But then some of my friends and family told me about their bad reactions to the vaccine and it put me off.
"Recently, with everything starting to feel crazy again, I bit the bullet and decided to go ahead with it."
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The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) made a joint statement in June confirming the Pfizer vaccine was safe for pregnant people.
Anna said she spoke with her midwife extensively about the vaccine and did her own research to make her decision.
"Of all the research I had done, I came to the conclusion that if I get vaccinated now, bub should be transferred some of that vaccine and then they would be covered if they were to get coronavirus," she said.
"Where as my other son who's two, he has no coverage because he's not eligible.
I did it for the chance of the vaccine passing through to protect my baby.
- Bendigo mother-to-be Anna
"I had a midwife appointment right before my Pfizer appointment and she was very encouraging and showed me some additional resources so I could be more informed. She never once forced me into making the decision."
"COVID is a much worse disease than we all initially thought and it's much worse on pregnancy outcomes," Dr Yuen said.
"There's evidence showing babies and mums have spent time admitted to hospital and intensive care units because of not being vaccinated and contracting COVID.
"Over 200,000 women have had Pfizer while being pregnant and nothing has been flagged as an issue when the baby was born."
In the end, the decision came down to what the mother-to-be believed was best for her and her baby. Despite the potential risks involved, Anna believes vaccination is the right thing to do for her growing family.
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"I definitely thought a lot about the potential harm it could do and a lot of my family said they're not sure what they would've done in my place," she said.
"It's just one of those things you decide whether you want to go ahead or not.
"If the baby was to contract covid and I knew I could've done something, I would feel terrible. Likewise, if something bad was to happen because of the vaccine, I would feel terrible too.
"It's not a position you want to be in but sometimes you have to and for me, the opportunity was there and I took it backed by the research I had done.
"I was a bit concerned of the side effects but I woke up fine and I haven't noticed anything unusual with the pregnancy.
"It was a comforting decision."
Anna will receive her second dose of Pfizer in four weeks time when she is 38 weeks pregnant.
To register to receive your vaccine, simply head to bendigohealth.org.au/registerforvaccine and click on the 'Register' button or scan the QR Code.
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