COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are safe in pregnancy, large study confirms thelancet TheLancetInfDis
women, who are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease than similarly aged non-pregnant individuals. COVID-19 vaccines were recommended for use in pregnancy in many countries early on in vaccine deployment, based on established prior safety of inactivated vaccines in pregnancy and reassuring data from the small number of pregnancies occurring during pre-authorization vaccine trials.
This new study, from The Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network, looked at data from participants across seven Canadian provinces and territories between December 2020 and November 2021. All vaccinated participants were asked to self-report any health events during the seven days following each dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The unvaccinated pregnant control group was asked to record any health problems over the seven days before they filled out the survey.
In comparison, 3.2% of pregnant unvaccinated participants reported similar events in the seven days prior to survey completion. In the vaccinated non-pregnant control group, 6.3% reported a significant health event in the week after dose one and 11.3% after dose two. Serious health events were rare in all groups and occurred at similar rates in vaccinated pregnant individuals, vaccinated non-pregnant people and unvaccinated controls after dose one and dose two.