Should pregnant women get vaccinated for COVID-19? Pfizer official weighs in

One of the biggest questions parents wanted to know: Will elementary students be able to be vaccinated before the next school year?

News 12 Staff

Jun 8, 2021, 2:17 AM

Updated 1,285 days ago

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News 12 spoke exclusively to Dr. Phil Dormitzer, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer of viral vaccines, and asked him many of the questions that viewers have been asking at home.
One of the biggest questions parents wanted to know: Will elementary students be able to be vaccinated before the next school year?
Dormitzer told News 12 that it may be possible around October, but it depends on the results of the studies and how soon things get authorized by the FDA.
Dormitzer also discussed why it appears that children contract COVID-19 at a lower rate than adults.
"We think it may be their innate immune systems. Children have very strong immune reactions, and it may be that those reactions actually help protect them from COVID-19. We don't know for sure, but it's a reasonable thought," he said.
Dormitzer told News 12 that Pfizer researchers are currently in the process of working their way down in age and dose when it comes to vaccines.
"You have to be a little careful as you go to younger and younger ages, and so we do it sort of cautiously and with small doses at first and then we build up," he said.
Regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and pregnancy, Dormitzer told News 12 that each individual pregnant woman should speak about it with her physician.
"The vaccine is being used by many pregnant women now and so far, everything is looking good," he says.
News 12 asked Dormitzer if there is any data or information he has that indicates that the vaccine is making men or women become infertile.
"I've heard the concern, but there are no concerning data. So far, the data looks just fine for fertility. We are actually doing studies in pregnant women now, we have the animal studies where we look directly at fertility…and all of that looks good. So that is not a concern,” he says.
Dormitzer did say that he thinks it's pretty likely that people who are alive today will experience another pandemic in their lifetime.
"These things come along every now and again. You know, in 2009 we had the H1N1 pandemic, which fortunately was not nearly as severe as this pandemic. But every 20, 25 years – one of these things comes along," he says.