Page 6 - REAL ISSUES FOR COVID-19 VACCINE IMMUNIZATION & Pregnancy, Breastfeeding Mothers

Foreword

Coronavirus can make anyone seriously ill. The most vulnerable people to get Covid-19 are
the healthcare professionals and pregnant mothers. Recently published research in BMJ
suggests that pregnant women are less likely to experience symptoms but if they develop
severe disease, they are more likely to be admitted to the intensive care or will require
ventilation as compared to non-pregnant women. Vaccine has been proven to significantly
reduce hospitalizations, complications and deaths.

This book contained a lightly edited transcript from the live webinar series on COVID-19
vaccine: COVID-19 Vaccination in Pregnancy & Lessons Learnt From Phase 1 Roll-Out of
Vaccines on 5th of May 2021. The panellists for this webinar were Dr. Muniswaran
Ganeshan, a Maternal Fetal Medicine Consultant, Dr. Norzaihan binti Hassan, a Family
Medicine Consultant and Datuk Dr. Noel Thomas Ross the Head of Acute Medicine and
Consultant Physician who chaired the session. The transcript was prepared by Mr. Jiveswara
Vijiakumar, Ms. Yip Yan Yee and Dr. Chew Cheng Hoon from Institute for Clinical Research,
NIH Malaysia. This is intended to share within healthcare professionals, not for the public.

The objective of the COVID-19 webinar series was to disseminate knowledge and current
evidence on COVID-19 management, vaccination and infection control practices to medical
practitioners. This is also a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activity for all
Health Care Providers and allied health personnel in Malaysia. This weekly live webinar was
jointly organized by Malaysian Society of Infection Control and Infectious Diseases
(MyICID) & Institute for Clinical Research (ICR), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Malaysia.

DR. SHAMALA DEVI A/P KARALASINGAM
Senior Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist
Institute for Clinical Research, NIH.