Dr. Anthony Fauci says there have been no “red flags” after tens of thousands of pregnant women have received COVID vaccines) -19.
On Wednesday, during a White House briefing, the nation’s top infectious disease expert said shots of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have been given unexpectedly in the months ahead.
“I want to point out that since the U.S. emergency use authorization 9) and according to the U.S., approximately 20,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated without red flags, as we say, and this is being controlled by the CDC and the FDA,” he said. dir Fauci. .
Although pregnant women were not included in the clinical trials of any vaccine approved in the U.S., some clinical trials, including pregnant women, are about to begin or are already underway, he added.
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that COVID-19 vaccines should not be used in pregnant women, and then backed down its advice and said vaccines can be given to pregnant women safely.
It also comes as states like Illinois and New York expand their eligibility to receive shots to pregnant women included.
On Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci (pictured) said there were no “red flags” after 20,000 pregnant women received coronavirus vaccines
Fauci said clinical trials with pregnant women will begin or are underway, but will not need tens of thousands, just enough volunteers to demonstrate safety and effectiveness (image from file)
The WHO recommended that pregnant women not be vaccinated (and then backtracked on its guidelines), which would affect more than three million pregnant women in the U.S., as the country continues to vaccinate about 1.5 million pregnant women. people every day (above)
So far, no vaccine trials have included pregnant women and they are not expected to pass in the first trimester of 2021, which means there are no safety data, according to the WHO.
Researchers want to determine that vaccines are safe and effective in healthy, non-pregnant people before testing them on expectant mothers and their future children.
“As for children and pregnant women, as I mentioned in a previous discussion with this group, the fact remains that we will start clinical trials and some have already started. We will not need to do tens of thousands of people,” he said. Fauci.
“We will need enough measures of hundreds to thousands for safety and whether or not we induce an immune response that is equivalent to the immune response that has been shown to be protective in trials that have now been shown to be 94% to 95% effective.”
U.S. doctors have opposed excluding pregnant women from vaccine recommendations because of their high risk of serious COVID-19 disease and say patients should decide whether or not to want the vaccine.
In a virtual briefing last month, WHO Director of Vaccination Kate O’Brien stressed the need for clinical trials of the Modern vaccine in pregnant women.
“There’s no reason to think there might be a problem during pregnancy, we just acknowledge that the data isn’t there right now,” she said.
However, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has strongly opposed the exclusion of pregnant women from vaccination trials and guidelines.
In a statement, the organization wrote that pregnant women should choose whether or not to get vaccinated and be informed of any risks.
“Pregnant people are more likely to have certain manifestations of serious illnesses associated with COVID-19 infection such as ICU admission, mechanical ventilation and death,” the statement says.
‘In addition, more than half of pregnant women also belong to another high-priority category, including front-line workers and those with underlying conditions.
“ACOG continues to urge that, for pregnant people, the decision to vaccinate should be left to each patient in consultation with their trusted physician.”
There are currently no data on how many women became pregnant during the Moderna coronavirus vaccine process.
However, during the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee meeting on whether or not to approve the Pfizer vaccine (the only other feature approved in the U.S.), the researchers revealed that during the trial they produced 23 pregnancies on November 14th.
Many gynecologists have objected to excluding pregnant women from vaccine recommendations, because pregnant patients with COVID-19 are twice as likely to be admitted to the ICU and three times more likely to need mechanical ventilation (above).
Of the pregnancies, 12 were from the vaccine group and 11 from the placebo group.
In the vaccine group, four were immunized before their last menstruation, four in the 30 days following their last menstruation, and four more than 30 days later.
In the placebo group, two small inoculations before their last menstrual period, six within 30 days after the last menstrual period, and two more than 30 days later.
No results are known yet, apart from a woman in the placebo group who had a miscarriage less than 20 weeks pregnant.
It is not uncommon not to include pregnant women in vaccine trials.
For example, expectant mothers have never been included in studies on the flu vaccine, but doctors have encouraged them to get it after years of data showing that jab behaved normally in healthy participants.
Doctors say they are concerned that pregnant women will not receive the coronavirus vaccine because millions of pregnant or breastfeeding women make up the staff.
In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 75 percent of the health workforce is female and about 330,000 health workers “could be pregnant or recently after childbirth at the time of implementation. of the vaccine “.
In addition, CDC data show that patients pregnant with COVID-19 are twice as likely to be admitted to the ICU and three times more likely to need mechanical ventilation than women who are not pregnant with the disease.
Recently, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine asked the federal government to include pregnant and lactating women in vaccine trials.
Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, told DailyMail.com last month that she believes pregnant women should be vaccinated.
“We are completely baffled by this statement from the World Health Organization,” Adams Waldorf said.
“And no one fully understands where this recommendation comes from. We have excellent animal safety data, we understand biologically how this works. [disease] it works and we know how to face and focus the risk that pregnant patients have,
One in 80 has a chance to die. That ‘s real. “