MONDAY, Aug. 15, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The most popular COVID-19 vaccines are safe to use during pregnancy, a large new Canadian study has concluded.
About 4 percent of pregnant women who received an mRNA vaccine had a significant health event within a week of their first dose, and about 7 percent after dose two, according to data collected from over 191,000 Canadian women.
In comparison, 3% of unvaccinated pregnant women reported similar significant health events, which were defined as an illness that caused the person to miss work or school, required a medical consultation, or prevented them from participating in usual daily activities.
The most common significant health events after dose two in pregnant women were a general feeling of malaise, headache or migraine, and respiratory tract infection.
Among a control group of people vaccinated but not pregnant, about 6% reported a health event after the first dose and 11% after the second, according to the report published online on 11 August in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The study, which was led by Manish Sadarangani of the Vaccine Evaluation Center at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute in Vancouver, is one of the first to compare vaccine side effects between vaccinated pregnant women, unvaccinated pregnant women, and a third group that was vaccinated. but not pregnant
Serious health events, defined as requiring an emergency department visit or hospitalization, were rare in all groups (less than 1%).
Miscarriage or stillbirth was the most commonly reported adverse pregnancy outcome, but there was no significant difference between the rates in vaccinated and unvaccinated women, the study authors reported in a press release
About 2% of unvaccinated pregnant women and 1.5% of vaccinated pregnant women experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth within seven days of the first dose of any mRNA vaccine.
The findings “are consistent and add to the growing body of evidence that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are safe during pregnancy,” stated a commentary accompanying the new study.
More information
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more information on vaccines against COVID-19.
SOURCE: The Lancet Infectious Diseases, press release, August 11, 2022
Did this page help you?
From the articles on your site
Related articles on the web