HIGH POINT, N.C. — A High Point mom, Carly White, received the first dose of her COVID-19 vaccine while she was 26 weeks pregnant with her third child. She received her second dose at 30 weeks pregnant.
Her daughter, Raleigh, was born on June 3 at The Birth Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
"My daughter's name is Raleigh she just turned two months yesterday," White said.
Before White's daughter, Raleigh came into the world, she was faced with a big decision.
"It was definitely strange times to have all of these unknown factors," White said. "When you are pregnant you want to do everything you can to protect your baby and keep them healthy."
She wanted to protect not only herself but her unborn daughter, so she decided to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
"The biggest factor I think was just talking with my OB and she had all the most up-to-date information at her fingertips," White said.
Last week, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine issued recommendations that anyone who is pregnant should be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“I strongly encourage any woman who is pregnant to receive a COVID-19 vaccination,” said Andrea Fernandez, M.D., associate chief medical officer and regional director of women's health services at Wake Forest Baptist Health and White’s obstetrician. “This vaccination is safe for you and your baby and is the best defense at protecting you both from this virus.”
White said she had some soreness and body aches after getting the shot.
"The first vaccine, I didn’t notice any changes or anything afterward, no effects, and then a month later, when I had the second vaccine, I just had some muscle tenderness in my arm from the vaccine, mild body aches for maybe about 12 hours. From, what I understand, pretty similar to what my friends had experienced that had [the vaccine]," White said. "Pretty mild, I would say.”
White said she wanted to get the vaccine after speaking with her OBGYN.
“The risks for me, being pregnant, were a lot higher without the vaccine,” White said. “After speaking with my physician, and hearing about the unvaccinated pregnant women she had seen contracting COVID-19 and being hospitalized, I knew the vaccine was the safest thing for me and my daughter. It’s the most selfless thing you can do as a mother, to give you and your baby the best opportunity to be healthy.”
Dr. Fernandez said she gets a lot of questions from her patients about the vaccine, but encourages them to get the shot while answering any of their concerns.
“The CDC is estimating I think between 18-22% of women have received the COVID-19 vaccine in pregnancy," Fernandez said. "It’s the minority which is really stressful to people like me because when I’m seeing COVID-19 patients that are in the hospital that are pregnant they are the unvaccinated patients. 95% of patients hospitalized right now are unvaccinated."
As for baby Raleigh, White said she is doing great.