New CDC Guidelines Recommend Pregnant Women Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19



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The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday recommended that pregnant women receive the COVID-19 vaccine, citing a new study that suggests there is no evidence the vaccine poses safety concerns for women. pregnant or their babies.

Speaking at a COVID-19 briefing at the White House, CDC chief Dr. Rochelle Walensky admitted that none of the participants in the initial COVID-19 vaccine trials were pregnant, leaving doctors and doctors families with little data on the impact of new vaccines on patients or their pregnancy. But new self-reported data from the first months of the vaccine’s deployment in the United States has led researchers to suggest that the new vaccines do not pose an increased risk during pregnancy.

“As such, the CDC recommends that pregnant women receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” Walensky said Friday. “We know this is a deeply personal decision and I encourage people to speak to their doctors or primary care providers to determine what is best for them and their baby.”

The announcement follows the publication of a peer-reviewed article in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. In the report, CDC researchers used self-reported data from more than 35,691 people who were or soon become pregnant. After receiving the vaccine, they reported typical side effects of the vaccine – injection site pain, fatigue, headaches, and muscle pain – but the researchers say the data “did not show clear safety signals. “.

The results released this week were an extension of a study presented by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last month, which also found no safety concerns during pregnancy.

Walensky’s announcement was not immediately reflected on the CDC’s website. On Friday afternoon, the agency’s website said that “based on how these vaccines work in the body, experts believe they are unlikely to pose a specific risk to pregnant women,” while acknowledging that limited data existed on the security of COVID. -19 vaccine in pregnant women.

The results of the study published on Wednesday add to growing evidence that suggests the vaccine is as safe for pregnant patients as it is for people who are not pregnant. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, a leading professional medical organization, recommends that COVID-19 vaccines should not be denied to pregnant or breastfeeding patients.

Pregnant people are particularly vulnerable to more serious illnesses from COVID-19. According to data released by the CDC, those who contract the virus during pregnancy are more likely to be hospitalized and have a higher risk of death.

Wednesday’s paper used data collected by three methods: V-safe, a CDC-sponsored program that collects data on vaccine side effects using smartphones; the v-safe pregnancy registry; and Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a long-standing joint surveillance effort between the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration that collects reports of unwanted vaccines. All data used in the research was self-reported.

According to the results of the study, pregnant patients reported pain at the vaccine injection site at a slightly higher rate than their non-pregnant peers, but were less likely to report having headaches, muscle pain, chills and fever. Among the 827 study participants who completed their pregnancies, the miscarriage rate was consistent with pre-pandemic pregnancy outcomes, the researchers said.

However, no data are yet available on the outcome of pregnancy in patients who received the vaccine during their first trimester.

The researchers recognized that “more longitudinal follow-up, including the follow-up of large numbers of women vaccinated earlier in pregnancy, is needed to inform maternal, pregnancy and infant outcomes.”

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