Page 8 The Skanner Portland & Seattle April 21, 2021
News
New Data Reassuring for COVID-19 Vaccination in Pregnancy
O
ne of the largest re-
ports on COVID-19
vaccination
in
pregnancy bolsters
evidence that it is safe
although the authors say
more comprehensive re-
search is needed.
The preliminary re-
sults are based on re-
ports from over 35,000
U.S. women who re-
ceived either the Moder-
na or Pfizer shots while
pregnant. Their rates of
miscarriage, premature
births and other compli-
cations were comparable
to those observed in pub-
lished reports on preg-
nant women before the
pandemic.
The new evidence from
researchers at the fed-
eral Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
was published Wednes-
day in the New England
Journal of Medicine.
None of the women
involved received John-
son & Johnson’s one-shot
vaccine, which became
available after the study,
and is now in limbo as
U.S. authorities examine
reports of blood clots in a
handful of women.
Separately, the Amer-
ican Society for Repro-
ductive Medicine on
Tuesday endorsed vac-
cination in pregnancy,
based on evidence it has
“
Everyone,
including
pregnant
women
and those
seeking
to become
pregnant,
should get
a COVID-19
vaccine.
been evaluating for over
a year.
‘’Everyone, including
pregnant women and
those seeking to become
pregnant, should get a
COVID-19 vaccine. The
AP PHOTO/CHARLES KRUPA
By LINDSEY TANNER
AP Medical Writer
In this Thursday, May 7, 2020 file photo, a pregnant woman wearing a face mask and gloves holds her
belly as she waits in line for groceries with hundreds during a food pantry sponsored by Healthy Waltham
for those in need due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, at St. Mary’s Church in Waltham, Mass. One of the
largest reports on Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy bolsters evidence that it is safe
although more rigorous research is needed. The new evidence from researchers at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention was published Wednesday, April 21, 2021, in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Johnson & Johnson’s now paused vaccine was not included.
vaccines are safe and ef-
fective,’’ the society said
in a statement.
A society representa-
tive said the group has
not evaluated the latest
evidence on Johnson &
Johnson’s vaccine.
An American College
of Obstetricians and Gy-
necologists representa-
tive said the CDC report
is promising but that
longer-term follow-up
is needed. That group
has said previously that
COVID-19
vaccination
should be available to
pregnant women and
to those who are breast-
feeding, and many preg-
nant U.S. women have
chosen to be vaccinated.
Although
pregnant
women were excluded
from studies that led to
emergency
authoriza-
tion for the vaccines, ev-
idence showed no harms
in women who were
unknowingly pregnant
when they enrolled.
Dr. Laura Riley, ob-gyn
chair at New York’s Wei-
ll Cornell Medicine, said
the new results are reas-
suring.
‘’It is great to have data
to share with our pa-
tients who continue to
weigh the risks and ben-
efits of vaccination,” she
said. “They know the po-
tential complications of
COVID infection in preg-
nancy and now there is
some safety data in hu-
man pregnancies.’’
Pregnant women who
become infected with
the coronavirus face
elevated risks for com-
plications including in-
tensive-care hospitaliza-
tion, premature births
and death.
The study authors, led
by the CDC’s Dr. Tom
Shimabukuro, said con-
tinued monitoring and
more evidence is needed
including on women who
get COVID-19 vaccina-
tions in the early stages
of pregnancy.
Their study included
information on 35,691
pregnant U.S. wom-
en who participated
in a voluntary smart-
phone-based vaccination
surveillance system and
who received Moderna
or Pfizer vaccines be-
tween
mid-December
2020 and late February.
It also included reports
on pregnancy complica-
tions from almost 4,000
women enrolled in a
U.S. vaccine safety regis-
try. Of these, 86% or 712
resulted in a live birth,
mostly among women
vaccinated in the third
trimester.
Most women in the sur-
veillance group reported
injection site pain but
more serious reactions
were less common. Preg-
nant women seemed
more prone to injection
site pain with both vac-
cines but less likely to
experience other reac-
tions than non-pregnant
women.
In the vaccine registry,
about 13% of pregnant
women reported mis-
carriages, less than 1%
stillbirths, 9% premature
births and 2% birth de-
fects. Those rates are all
within the same range
observed in reports in
pregnant women before
the pandemic.