Pregnant women say they face a difficult decision when Covid-19 vaccines are made available: take one or not.
Doctors say the answer depends on a woman’s risk of getting Covid-19 and her underlying health problems, but there is still insufficient data to make a definitive recommendation. The orientation of health agencies, however, varies.
“What is the risk for my child if I get the vaccine? This blank space, this data-free zone of not knowing what the effects would be, is really worrying, ”said Jennifer Lewey, a 40-year-old cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, scheduled for March 21.
The dilemma faced by pregnant women like Dr. Lewey, who decided to skip vaccination for now and rely on masking and other precautions, highlights a gap in the verification of Covid-19 vaccines during their rushed development: they have not been tested on pregnant women.
Pfizer Inc., its partner BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc., the companies behind two US-authorized Covid-19 vaccines, did not enroll pregnant women in the final stage tests to assess whether the injections work safely.