Covid Vaccine 'All Safe' for Expecting and Lactating Mothers

There is no harm if a pregnant woman or lactating mother takes Covid vaccine. An expert from Tripura has said that safety of the vaccine for expecting or lactating mothers has already been 'confirmed'.

Dr. Tapan Majumder, HOD of Microbiology department, Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC), said when the vaccination process had started in Tripura in January this year, there was no clinical trial of the vaccine on the lactating mother or pregnant women initially.

"As the researches made progress, it has been experimentally proved that the vaccine is safe for expecting and lactating mothers. In Tripura, the vaccination for this particular category started in May last and there was no incident of any negative impact so far," Dr. Majumder told a press conference on Friday.

Briefing the media about the technical aspects of the vaccine, the microbiologist pointed out that there is no live virus in the vaccine doses.

"Covishield is a genetically engineered vaccine with a protein of the non-replicating virus. So, production of live virus from vaccination is not at all possible. In case of breast feeding, even if the mother is already infected with the virus, it doesn't spread," Dr. Majumder explained.

After taking Covishield dose, it generally takes two weeks to develop antibody. Once the lactating mother develops antibody, it will indirectly give protection to the baby also through breast feeding, he said.

Clearing all doubts, he appealed to all to take vaccines so that the projected third wave of coronavirus can't affect the people. The vaccine is a must to stay protected amid this deadly coronavirus.

"Production of live virus from vaccination is not at all possible. In case of breast feeding, even if the mother is already infected with the virus, it doesn't spread," Dr. Majumder explained.

Tripura has already vaccinated 88.6 percent of the eligible population (18+ age groups) with the first shots. The target population in Tripura is 26.24 lakh.

State Immunization Officer Dr. Mousumi Sarkar said as many as 31,03,445 doses against the coronavirus have so far been administered in Tripura - 23,26,835 people received the first dose and 7,76,610 people among them also received the second dose.

"All measures have been taken to cover all the left-out people with the support from District Administration and all line departments. As part of the special vaccination drive, total 1,62,527 people have been given the first dose from July 21 to 29 last. At present, 5,60,930 doses are available with the state," Dr. Sarkar told the media.

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has personally visited several vaccination centres in different districts over the past few days to oversee the process as well as to encourage more people to take vaccines.

According to Deb, Tripura would soon achieve its goal of vaccinating 100 percent eligible population as the people are giving spontaneous response during the on-going special drive.

Meanwhile, Tripura saw a significant improvement in the overall Covid situation over the last few weeks. At present the positivity rate stands at 5.06 percent, an official report said.

After reviewing the situation, the Tripura Government has withdrawn the Corona Day Curfew with effect from August 01, 2021. Now, the Night Curfew (7 pm to 5 am) would remain in force till August 31 next throughout the state. A notification in this regard has been issued by the Chief Secretary on Friday with detailed guidelines.