Homer: Mothers can get vaccine

MOTHERS can be vaccinated while breastfeeding and can continue to breastfeed while being COVID-19 positive, says Professor Caroline Homer.

She made the comment during Fiji National University’s Explain the Science virtual panel discussion on Tuesday.

Prof Homer said COVID-19 transmission between mother and baby was done by touching and airborne and there was no evidence to suggest it occurred through pregnancy.

She also said that it was more beneficial for mother and child to remain together despite infection in the mother because separating them would do more harm to the baby’s health.

“We know the benefits of keeping the mother and baby together are really important particularly for the baby’s health but that women do very careful handwashing and wear a mask when they’re breastfeeding their baby,” she said.

“We’re not advocating the baby goes into a nursery and we keep mother and baby apart because that has other risks.

“Obviously, if she’s very sick and can’t care for her baby, that’s a different story.

“But for women who have the virus but are not sick, keeping the mother and baby together doing all the careful handwashing, wearing a mask is really important and continuing to breastfeed the baby right from the beginning is very important.”

Professor Homer is the co-program director Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne and Honorary Emeritus Professor of Midwifery in the Faculty of Health at the University of Technology Sydney.