Russian doctors do not recommend that women rush to planning pregnancy in 2021, according to News.ru. The opinion of experts is not even affected by the fact that mass vaccination has already begun in Russia, and statistics indicate a plateau in the incidence of coronavirus.
Director of the Association for Population and Development, obstetrician-gynecologist Lyubov Erofeeva urges her compatriots to postpone conception until autumn.
"By the fall, the incidence will decline, a significant number of Russians will already be vaccinated, then it is worth planning a pregnancy," said Erofeeva.
The obstetrician-gynecologist added that expectant mothers should also be vaccinated in order to be surely protected from the virus, wait six months after the injection and then think about procreation. Erofeeva is convinced that every woman should understand what difficulties can be encountered when carrying a child into a pandemic, therefore it is extremely important that such events do not happen by chance during this period.
“Anything that happens spontaneously is subject to much greater risks,” the obstetrician-gynecologist concluded.
Boris Lordkipanidze, an international expert on reproductive health in the Russian Federation, agreed with his colleague and recalled that even according to the instructions for the coronavirus vaccine, vaccination should not be given to those who are planning to conceive in the next three months - these are standard recommendations.
“Coronavirus is a rather unusual disease. Even though several vaccines have already been developed, this will not immediately solve the problem. Based on this principle, every Russian woman has the right to make a choice, get pregnant in the near future, or protect herself with a vaccine and postpone conception a little,”Lordkipanidze said.
He added that the pandemic and the availability of the coronavirus vaccine are unlikely to somehow affect the sexual behavior of women, but in the event of an unplanned pregnancy, women will have more reasons to worry.
In addition, the doctor recalled that planning a pregnancy is not only visits to a gynecologist. The expectant mother needs to undergo a series of examinations and exclude general somatic diseases and consult about chronic diseases, if any.
It will not be superfluous to visit a psychologist, especially if a woman is tormented by a constant feeling of anxiety or other emotional discomfort. It is better to work out psychological problems even before conceiving a child, in addition, antidepressants, tranquilizers and antipsychotics may be needed to correct the psychological state, and after taking such drugs, it takes at least six months to restore the body, since such drugs affect the hormonal system and can cause a malfunction in the body.
“We do not always prescribe drugs of this type as a treatment. Common neuroses, for example, are often treated with natural remedies (different types of herbs) in combination with psychotherapy. In this case, there are much fewer restrictions on planning a pregnancy. And if we are talking about the mentally ill, they also give birth. We give them about a year to recover from drugs, only then conception is possible,”said psychotherapist Vladimir Fainzilberg.
According to him, the global pandemic is definitely negatively affecting the emotional state of Russians, but this is unlikely to reduce the number of pregnancies, but not everyone can safely bear the baby. According to the psychotherapist, "the population balance is becoming negative" - more people die than are born.