A city councilor from Houston, who is also pregnant, decided to get the shot in public to build trust in other women.
“I will be the first to admit that I was a little nervous about getting the vaccine,” said councilor Abbie Kamin. “I think it’s going to be especially with the area of pregnancy, especially for the first time.”
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Many other pregnant women also showed reluctance, said Stephanie Humbert, department manager of the health department’s nursing family program for nurses. The program links a nurse to a low-income woman who is pregnant for the first time.
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She said about 10% of the 170 women currently participating in the program received the vaccine.
“We are just in the early stages of explaining the COVID-19 vaccine, and what it can do, and that it will not harm them or their baby,” Humbert said. “We’re slowly changing our minds, but I think it’s going to take a while.”
Eventually, Kamin decided to get her vaccine public.
“When I walked into my doctor’s office, I said, ‘Hey, I think I want to get the vaccine,’ and she said, ‘Please, please get it,'” Kamin said.
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Doctors said the ingredients in the COVID-19 vaccine were not known to be harmful to pregnant women. But if pregnant women become infected with the coronavirus, they run a greater risk of developing serious diseases.
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