Ministry Of Health Circular Letter, Pregnant Women Can Be Vaccinated With Pfizer, Moderna, And Sinovac COVID-19 Brands

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) has allowed the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine to pregnant women. This policy is contained in the Circular Letter of the Ministry of Health Number HK.02.01/I/2007/2021 regarding COVID-19 Vaccination for Pregnant Women and Screening Adjustments in the Implementation of the COVID-19 Vaccine.

According to the circular, giving COVID-19 vaccine to pregnant women is allowed because they are easily exposed, especially those who live in big cities and have certain health conditions.

"Considering the increasing number of infected pregnant women and their impact on pregnancy and their babies, efforts are needed to provide COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant women," said the Circular signed by the Acting Director General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, Tuesday. , August 3rd.

The effort to provide COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women has been recommended by the National Immunization Expert Advisory Committee (ITAGI).

In practice, the procedures carried out are not much different from vaccinations in general. Before being injected, they will first pass through the screening stage or health check, starting from measuring body temperature, blood pressure, to taking a history of the disease.

The provision of this vaccine has been started since Monday, August 2 by prioritizing pregnant women in areas of high risk of exposure to COVID-19. The types of vaccines used are Pfizer and Moderna which use an mRNA platform and Sinovac which has an inactivated platform.

These three vaccines with different types of platforms can be used for pregnant women according to their availability in health care facilities.

Previously, Deputy Chair of the IDI Mitigation Team & General Chair of the Indonesian Obstetrics and Gynecology Association (POGI) Ari Kusuma Januarto said there were a number of clinical instructions that differentiated between the general public, pregnant women and children in the process of administering COVID-19 vaccinations.

"Clinical instructions such as temperature are the same. If the recommended hypertension problem is below 180, it's okay. But pregnant women have a disease condition that causes high blood pressure, called preeclampsia," said Ari, quoted by Antara, Saturday, July 31.

Furthermore, he explained that pregnant women who have blood pressure above 140/90 are not recommended to vaccinate against COVID-19 and must get a referral from a prenatal doctor.

Not only that, pregnant women with symptoms of swollen feet, headaches, heartburn and others will be reviewed to receive vaccinations. While the recommended gestational age for receiving the vaccine is 13 weeks-33 weeks.

In addition, pregnant women who have heart problems and diabetes must be in a controlled condition to be able to receive the vaccine. Meanwhile, pregnant women with autoimmune disease who are undergoing treatment must postpone vaccination until they get approval from the examining doctor.

Finally, those with a history of allergies or severe allergies should also receive special attention. If during the first vaccination there is an allergy in pregnant women, the second dose is not recommended.

After vaccination, pregnant women are also required to carry out monitoring, including regarding the development of the baby during pregnancy until after delivery.