No clear answer for pregnant Vancouver woman trying to get COVID-19 booster before imminent birth

While B.C. health officials have said people who are pregnant will have prioritized access to booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, a Vancouver woman hoping to get hers before her due date next week isn’t sure whether that will happen.

Carolyn Veldstra will be at the six-month mark from her second COVID-19 vaccination on Jan. 18. Her second child is due the week before. She contacted the vaccine hotline on Monday hoping to book an appointment, but said she wasn’t able to get a clear answer.

“They noted my due date on the file and said someone may reach out to me to book something, but that’s kind of where they left it,” she said.

"It would have been nice to be able to get the booster before giving birth just because I know I’ll be interacting with the medical system and all kinds of other people, and it would be nice to have that added layer of reassurance in terms of my own immunity, but also for the baby to have whatever immunity I can confer.”

On Dec. 31, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced people who are pregnant would have prioritized access to booster doses once they are past the six-month mark from their second shot.

“People who are pregnant we know are at higher risk of severe illness,” she said. “You will need to contact the call centre...and self-identify that you are pregnant, and you’ll be able to book your booster dose in the coming days.”

Veldstra said the call taker on the vaccination line also told her she could look into filling out an attestation form with her health-care provider, but is unsure about what that process would entail. CTV News has reached out to the Health Ministry for clarification.

Veldstra’s spouse, Kasim Husain, is also hoping she’ll be able to get her booster sooner than later.

“Our older son was born pre-pandemic and we were worried about illness then...we’re that much more worried with Omicron bearing down,” he said. “Our experience of the system hasn’t shown that to be easy to navigate when getting a booster a little bit sooner would make a big difference.”

Veldstra says she will be talking to her midwives at her next appointment to try and figure out her next steps.

“The six months in this case feels really quite arbitrary,” she said. “What it means to be prioritized, I guess is really unclear to me because there doesn’t seem to be any kind of mechanism to access that priority.”