Reviewed by James Cutrell, MD, UT Southwestern Medical Center
The CDC has recently updated their guidance to recommend COVID-19 vaccination in all people 12 years and older, including those who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant or might become pregnant. This stronger recommendation in pregnancy was driven by increasing evidence of safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in this population. First, a recent CDC report (published as a pre-print) from the V-safe pregnancy registry of those vaccinated before 20 weeks of pregnancy did not find any increase in the rates of miscarriage following vaccination compared to the baseline population risk. Additionally, a report from Israel comparing 7530 vaccinated pregnant women who received the Pfizer vaccine and matched unvaccinated pregnant women found a significantly decreased incidence of COVID-19 infection (0.33% in vaccinated versus 1.64% in unvaccinated, adjusted HR 0.22 [95% CI 0.11-0.43]). This type of data can help clinicians more effectively counsel and advocate for COVID-19 vaccination in their patients who are pregnant or of child-bearing age.
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