IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT VACCINATIONS FOR PREGNANT WOMEN AND FOR THOSE PLANNING PREGNANCY
With the State Government’s consistent message that all residents should seek vaccination, the team at Westmead Fertility Centre would like to alert our patients to recent statements from RANZCOG and ATAGI regarding COVID-19 and pregnancy. These expert groups have issued their recommendation that pregnant women are to be routinely offered Pfizer at any stage of pregnancy. This is because the risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 for pregnant women and their unborn baby is significantly higher than those faced by the general community. See the full statement here.
These recommendations also state that women who are trying to become pregnant do not need to delay vaccination or avoid becoming pregnant after vaccination. With this advice, and in the current environment of heightened risk, we are encouraging our patients to seek vaccination.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT TREATMENT AT OUR CLINIC
Our team at WFC continue to closely monitor the evolving COVID-19 situation. Located in the geographic centre of Sydney, our clinic is surrounded by multiple local government areas (LGA) which are experiencing high levels of new COVID-19 infections. Currently, our own LGA is also experiencing an unfortunate increase in cases.
In order to reduce movement throughout the community, we are asking our patients to consider postponing treatment until the current COVID-19 restrictions are eased. Our team has been comforted by recent research showing that a delay in ART treatment of up to 180 days did not impact on birth rates (presented at the Keynote Session of the Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology; reference: Human Reproduction, Vol.36, No. Suppl, pp. i1–i513, 2021).
If you choose to embark on treatment at this time, we will require that you commit to strict COVID-19 surveillance testing before and throughout your treatment. Our team will be able to outline the testing regime to you, which will involve commitment from both partners. Treatment with these strict measures in place is available for all patients, irrespective of their LGA. This is with exception of new IUI and OI cycles, where we have made the difficult decision to postpone these cycle types at this time. Sperm freezing is also limited to emergency cases only.
We remain focused on staying open at WFC to allow the provision of treatment to those patients who require critical access to ART. We know this is a difficult time for our patients and we ask for your support to comply with these precautions for everyone’s safety.
Stay safe. Take care.
