INDIANAPOLIS — The push to encourage vaccinations ramping is ramping up again, especially for people who are pregnant.
The CDC says evidence shows the vaccine is safe and effective during pregnancy. Pregnant and recently pregnant people are more likely to get severely ill from the virus if they don't get the shot.
Married a year, Andrea and Michael Kruszynski will welcome their first child to the world next month.
“I’m 34 weeks pregnant and we’re having a baby boy, a large baby boy,” said Andrea smiling. “Bennett Michael Kruszynski."
The nursery is ready to go. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for Bennett to arrive.
“Getting that nursery done is stress off my back and it’s now, we’re ready for Bennett to come along and we’re very excited,” Michael added.
The road to get to this point was a long one. The Kruszynskis used fertility drugs to help them conceive.
“There was a long period of time where I wasn’t sure this could happen,” Andrea said.
That’s why they didn’t want to take any chances. As soon as she could, Andrea was signing up to get the COVID-19 vaccine at just eight weeks pregnant.
“By March, all the experts had come out and said ‘Yeah, we recommend it for pregnant women to get the vaccine,’ so we were ‘Alright, we’re on board,’” said Michael.
“Yeah, we were on it,” Andrea added.
She’s one of only a small number who are pregnant and decided to get the shot, just 31 percent, despite the increased risks for death if one gets COVID during pregnancy.
“I didn’t want to be that person. I didn’t want to be a statistic. I know he doesn’t want to be a widowed father with a newborn, so it was important to me to do what I had to do in order to be here,” said Andrea.
The couple has seen the stories about others who’ve had to deliver babies prematurely, with some losing their lives after coming down with the virus during pregnancy. That’s why, for the Kruszynskis, getting the vaccine was a given.
“For me, it was listening to the advice of my doctors,” said Andrea.
“I got it, I’m happy I got it. I’d go back and get it again, but I’m not going to judge those people that chose not to get it. I still feel that’s their choice,” said Michael. “But I still feel it’s the best choice to protect ourselves and get the better chance of survival."
Waiting to be a first-time parent comes with enough sleepless nights for the Kruszynskis without having to worry about catching COVID when they had a way to reduce the risk of getting a serious or deadly case.
“For me, if there’s something available that could possibly protect me and my baby, for me it was an easy choice,” said Andrea.
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