Should a Pregnant Patient Get Vaccinated? What about a Six-Year-Old? MCN’s Newest COVID-19 Resources Help Explain

Tue, 12/07/2021 | by MCN Admin

Why should my six-year-old get vaccinated, if he's unlikely to get very ill with COVID-19? I don't want to get a new vaccine while I'm pregnant because I'm concerned for my baby. Why should I get vaccinated? These are valid questions that clinicians are facing daily – and as the virus has changed and data have been gathered, our answers have solidified.

Migrant Clinicians Network is changing that. Our programs are practical solutions to the biggest challenges in migrant and immigrant health. A patient can't continue their care because they are migrating? Whether it's a pregnant asylum seeker, a farmworker with diabetes, or an immigrant with active TB who is moving home, enroll them in Health Network to help them connect to care in their next community. A clinician who is struggling under the weight of the pandemic? Link up with Witness to Witness, which provides trainings and resources specifically for clinicians grappling with secondary trauma. Struggling to know how to reach out to your community around COVID-19 vaccines? Use our multilingual vaccine campaign templates, watch a webinar, or join our learning collaborative to learn best practices and connection with fellow clinicians across the country battling the same issues. This is just a fraction of the work we do at MCN – and it's all toward one purpose. We strive for health equity. We want our most vulnerable to be supported in their health needs. We want families to gather together in health and in happiness around the Thanksgiving table.

This coming Tuesday, November 30th, is Giving Tuesday. We invite you on that day to honor the migrant and immigrant communities who are so essential to this country. Migrants and immigrants are who grow the food on our Thanksgiving plates. Migrants and immigrants pack and process that food in warehouses, they transport that food all across the country, they sell that food in the grocery stores. This holiday is impossible without them. So, let's make health possible for them. Donate to Migrant Clinicians Network on Giving Tuesday – mark your calendar – and support health justice for migrants and immigrants.

It is critically important for pregnant people to get vaccinated, as many have fallen ill. Earlier in the pandemic, it was unclear how pregnant people and their fetuses would respond. Here’s what we now know:

People who contract COVID-19 while pregnant are three times more likely to need ICU care.
People who contract COVID-19 while pregnant are two to three times more likely to need advanced life support and a breathing tube.
Over 139,000 pregnant people have received the vaccine – helping to demonstrate that the vaccines are safe and effective, and important to avoid severe illness and death.

Children, too, can avoid illness and prevent the spread of disease through vaccination – but they also can get very ill or die. Data now show:

COVID-19 is presently the sixth largest killer of children in the US.
Children can still spread the disease, which can infect older people who are more at risk for serious disease or death.
Getting children vaccinated helps prevent outbreaks that cause school closures or disruptions.

These important messages are included in Migrant Clinicians Network's new COVID-19 vaccine flyers. These full-color trifold flyers help provide the basic information on COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant people and for children to help clinicians as they talk with parents about the vaccine.

The trifold flyers are available for download and printing in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. They are fully customizable – you can add your clinic's contact information or recommended websites for more information on the back. The flyers feature images of women and children of color and are written in culturally relevant language at a lower literacy rate.