Pregnant people should get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recently released new data on vaccine safety.
The agency is now recommending that all persons 12 and older receive vaccinations against the virus, which has claimed more than 615,000 lives in the U.S.
“CDC encourages all pregnant people or people who are thinking about becoming pregnant and those breastfeeding to get vaccinated to protect themselves from COVID-19,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, said in a statement. “The vaccines are safe and effective, and it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations as we face the highly transmissible Delta variant and see severe outcomes from COVID-19 among unvaccinated pregnant people.”
The CDC published data from the v-safe pregnancy registry, which assessed vaccination safety early in pregnancy. The work showed no increased risk of miscarriage among nearly 2,500 pregnant women who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine before 20 weeks of pregnancy. Miscarriage typically occurs in 11% to 16% of pregnancies, and the prevalence of miscarriage among the vaccine group was 13%–”similar to the expected rate of miscarriage in the general population,” the CDC noted.
Data from three safety monitoring systems similarly did not find any safety concerns for pregnant people who were vaccinated late in their pregnancies or for their babies.
“Combined, these data and the known severe risks of COVID-19 during pregnancy demonstrate that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant people outweigh any known or potential risks,” the CDC stated.
The new data release comes as roughly 70% of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated. However, COVID-19 cases are on the rise, with the Delta variant causing more infections and hospitalizations in certain regions. The CDC has also reported nearly 36 million cases in the U.S. in the last 30 days.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."