Being pregnant does not disqualify you from getting the COVID vaccine, whether you are looking at the CDC guidelines or the latest from the World Health Organization. Some headlines suggest something different, so let’s look at what we know.
Getting the vaccine is your doctor’s personal decision
Let’s make it clear what the recommendations are. In short, every organization agrees that people who are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant I can get the vaccine.
Different agencies formulate this differently, but if you are at risk of being exposed to COVID (for example, if you work in the healthcare field) or if you are at risk of complications (for example, you have heart disease), both the CDC and WHO recommend that you get the vaccine.
The CDC says:
People who are pregnant and are part of a [priority] The group recommended to receive the COVID-19 vaccine may choose to be vaccinated. If they have doubts about how to be vaccinated, a discussion with a healthcare professional can help them make an informed decision.
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In other words, they consider vaccination to be a personal choice, and any pregnant person can choose to be vaccinated if the vaccine is available to them. Being pregnant does not change the priority group you are in.
The World Health Organization takes a slightly more pessimistic view, saying:
WHO recommends not to use BNT162b2 in pregnancy, unless the benefit of vaccination of a pregnant woman outweighs the potential risks of the vaccine, such as in health professionals with high risk of exposure and pregnant women with comorbidities that place them in a high-risk group. risk for COVID-severe 19 Information and, if possible, advice on the lack of safety and efficacy data for pregnant women should be provided. WHO does not recommend pregnancy testing before vaccination.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists argued that no one should stand between a pregnant person and their COVID vaccine. Christopher Zahn, MD, vice president of Practical Activities at ACOG, said in a statement today:
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) remains firm in its guidance that both COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized by the FDA should be made available to pregnant women who choose to receive the vaccine. However, we recognize that the conflicting recommendation from the World Health Organization can be disturbing to many pregnant women who are currently struggling to decide whether or not to be vaccinated. … ACOG strongly advocated the inclusion of pregnant people in COVID-19 vaccine trials, so that we currently have the data to support the safety and efficacy of vaccines in this population. But even in the absence of such data, pregnant women should know that the way vaccines work and the first evidence from animal studies give us reason to believe that there should be no harmful effects on the fetus or female reproduction.
ACOG has a guide here to help healthcare professionals talk to pregnant patients about whether the COVID vaccine makes sense to them.
Why recommendations vary
For Pfizer and Moderna vaccines (the two that are currently authorized for emergency use in the U.S.), clinical trials that have shown that the vaccine is safe and effective did not enroll anyone who was pregnant. Even so, some people became pregnant during the tests, and researchers have followed these people to find out how they and their babies are doing.
This lack of data explains why public health agencies may seem reluctant to recommend the vaccine to people who are pregnant or, in some cases, people who may become pregnant.
Still, there is no reason to believe that the vaccine would act differently in people who are pregnant than in those who are not. Despite the rumors you may have seen, MRNA vaccines do not alter DNA, and are not known to cause infertility or pregnancy problems. Vaccines do not contain the virus itself, and so far animal studies have revealed no safety problems related to pregnancy or fetal development.
“Based on the mechanism of action of these vaccines and the safety and efficacy demonstrated in the Phase II and Phase III clinical trials, it is expected that the vaccine’s safety and efficacy profile for pregnant women will be similar to that observed in non-pregnant individuals”, says the ACOG conversation guide.
Does it make sense to get the vaccine if I am pregnant?
People who are pregnant, compared to those who are not, are at greater risk of ending up in the ICU or suffering from a serious illness if they contract COVID-19. What we know about vaccines indicates that they are generally effective and safe. But due to the lack of information, we don’t know exactly Like are effective and safe for pregnant women. Depending on how you feel about these unknowns and the level of risk you face otherwise, you will have to make an assessment – but make sure you get help from your provider with this.
If you have a low risk of complications and do not work in a high-risk job, you may decide that you prefer to wait until after pregnancy to get the vaccine. This is a choice that you absolutely have the ability to make. If you think you would be better off with the vaccine than without it, the choice is also yours. Talk to your provider about the risks and benefits and how you would like to deal with them.
If you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant or have recently been pregnant, the recommendations still allow you to be vaccinated. Even the WHO, which said that the Modern vaccine “is not recommended” in pregnancy, does not recommend the requirement for a pregnancy test before the vaccine and does not recommend any specific period of time to wait after pregnancy.