Pregnant women with covid-19 have an increased risk of serious illness and may be at increased risk of adverse effects, such as premature birth, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, along 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 reviewed data from 35,691 pregnant women between December 14, 2020 and February 28, 2021 from CDC’s V-safe smartphone-based surveillance system, as well as data from the CDC’s reporting system. CDC vaccine adverse event (VAERS). All participants were pregnant and aged between 16 and 54 years.
The researchers followed a group within the V-safe system to collect more data on pregnancy outcomes and complications. This registry included 3,958 pregnant participants (out of 35,691) who had received an mRNA vaccine. They found 827 completed pregnancies and 115 (13.9%) experienced a loss of pregnancy, while 712 (86.1%) resulted in a live birth. Premature births occurred in 9.4% of participants and only 3.2% of these births had a small gestational age. No neonatal deaths were recorded.
The CDC VAERS record of 221 pregnancy-related adverse events was reported, and 46 of them were miscarriages.
“Although not directly comparable, the calculated proportions of adverse pregnancies and neonatal outcomes in people vaccinated against Covid-19 who had a full pregnancy were similar to the incidences reported in studies of pregnant women who were term before the Covid-19 “pandemic.
The study also examined the side effects of vaccines 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 vaccine recipients who were pregnant. However, pregnant women reported less frequent headaches, muscle aches, chills, and fever.
The 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 follow-up with a large vaccinated population in early pregnancy.
“Continuous monitoring is needed to further evaluate the maternal, pregnancy, neonatal, and infant outcomes associated with maternal vaccination against Covid-19, including the earlier stages of pregnancy and during the preconception period,” they wrote. the investigators. “Meanwhile, current data may help inform vaccination decision-making by pregnant women and their health care providers.”
Protection for mothers and babies
In addition to being safe, research published last month showed that Moderna and Pfizer’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccines are also effective in protecting pregnant and lactating women and their babies. The study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that also used safe data from V, showed that mothers can transmit protective antibodies to newborns.
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women Hospital, and the Ragon Institute from MGH, MIT, and Harvard examined 131 women who received the Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. Among the participants, 84 were pregnant, 31 infants and 16 non-infants. Samples were collected between December 17, 2020 and March 2, 2021.
Vaccine-induced antibody levels were equivalent in pregnant and lactating women, compared with nonpregnant women. Antibody levels were “surprisingly 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 women transmitted protective antibodies to their babies, measured in breast milk and placenta. Alter said additional research is needed to understand how long these protective antibodies last in newborns.
Although 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 Modern vaccine. He said this particular type of antibody can be transferred more efficiently to babies over a longer period of time.
“There are some reasons to think that having higher levels of immunity to IgA may be more protective,” Alter noted.