Couples with baby plans should receive COVID-19 jabs: Health institution

ISTANBUL

Couples that plan on having a baby should get the coronavirus vaccine, a Turkey-based reproductive health institution recommended on Wednesday.

The Turkish Reproductive Health Association underlined that pregnant women experience COVID-19 infections more severely, citing data in June from the World Health Organization.

"The rate of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 infection increase and the rate of severity is higher during pregnancy," it said.

It added that the rate of deaths or premature births is twice as much when the mother is infected with the virus.

Due to the rapid increase and contagiousness of the Delta variant, all women planning a pregnancy should receive two doses of a vaccine jab, it said.

The group said no significant adverse effects from the shots on pregnant women have been observed.

It added that vaccines do not have the slightest risk of causing infertility, decreasing the number of sperm, affecting the number of eggs, or the development of embryos.

*Writing by Dilan Pamuk in Ankara