Women pregnant with Covid-19 have an increased risk of severe disease and may be at increased risk of adverse outcomes, such as premature birth, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, together with existing research showing that mRNA vaccines are effective in pregnant and lactating women, suggests that the benefits of vaccines outweigh the risks.
The new study looked at data from 35,691 pregnant women between December 14, 2020 and February 28, 2021 from the CDC’s V-safe smartphone surveillance system, as well as data from the vaccine’s adverse event reporting system (VAERS). CDC. All participants were pregnant and between 16 and 54 years old.
The researchers followed a group from the V-safe system to gather more data on pregnancy outcomes and complications. This registry included 3,958 pregnant participants (out of 35,691) who received an mRNA vaccine. They found 827 completed pregnancies, and 115 (13.9%) suffered a miscarriage, while 712 (86.1%) led to a live birth. Premature births occurred in 9.4% of participants and only 3.2% of these births had a low gestational age. No neonatal deaths were reported.
221 pregnancy-related adverse events were reported in the CDC’s VAERS registry, and 46 of these were miscarriages.
“Although not directly comparable, the calculated proportions of adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in people vaccinated against Covid-19 who had a full pregnancy were similar to the incidences reported in studies involving pregnant women performed before the Covid pandemic. -19. ”
The study also looked at the side effects of the vaccine during pregnancy. The researchers found that the most common side effect of the vaccine was pain at the injection site, which appeared to occur more frequently in vaccinated people who were pregnant. However, headaches, muscle aches, chills and fever have been reported less frequently by pregnant women.
Researchers say more long-term studies are needed to evaluate the safety of the Covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy and that this research should include tracking a large population who are vaccinated in early pregnancy.
“Continuous monitoring is needed to further assess the maternal, pregnancy, neonatal and childhood outcomes associated with maternal Covid-19 vaccination, including in the early stages of pregnancy and the preconception period,” the researchers wrote. Meanwhile, current data may help inform vaccination decisions by pregnant women and their healthcare providers.
Protection for mothers and newborns
In addition to being safe, research launched last month showed that Covid-19 mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer are also effective in protecting pregnant and lactating women – and their newborns. The study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which also used safe data in V, showed that mothers can transmit protective antibodies to newborns.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard analyzed 131 women who received either the Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. Of the participants, 84 were pregnant, 31 were breastfeeding and 16 were not pregnant or breastfeeding. The samples were collected between December 17, 2020 – March 2, 2021.
Vaccine-induced antibody levels were equivalent in pregnant and lactating women compared to non-pregnant women. Antibody levels were “strikingly higher” than those resulting from coronavirus infection during pregnancy, the team noted.
“These vaccines seem to work incredibly effectively in these women,” said one of the researchers, Galit Alter, a professor of medicine at the Ragon Institute.
In addition, the team found that the women transmitted protective antibodies to their newborns, measured in breast milk and placenta. Alter said more research is needed to understand how long these protective antibodies last in newborns.
While the team found similar levels of antibodies in women vaccinated with each vaccine, Alter said they found higher levels of IgA antibodies in pregnant women who received the Moderna vaccine. She said that this particular type of antibody can be transferred more effectively to children for a longer period of time.
“There is some reason to believe that having higher levels of immunity to IgA could be more protective,” Alter noted.