CDC approves Covid vaccines for pregnant people



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Federal health authorities on Wednesday reinforced their recommendation to vaccinate pregnant women against Covid-19, highlighting new safety data that revealed no increased risk of miscarriage in those who have been immunized in the first 20 weeks of gestation.

Previous research has found data to be equally reassuring for people vaccinated later in pregnancy.

So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the vaccine could be offered during pregnancy; the recent update to the guidelines strengthens official advice, urging pregnant people to get vaccinated.

The new guideline brings the CDC in line with recommendations made by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other medical specialty groups, which strongly recommend vaccination.

“At this time, the benefits of vaccination and the known risks of Covid during pregnancy, and the high rates of transmission at this time, outweigh the theoretical risks of the vaccine,” Sascha R. Ellington, an epidemiologist who leads the emergency response team. in the reproductive health division at CDC

The risks of having Covid-19 during pregnancy are well established, she said, and include serious illness, admission to intensive care, the need for mechanical ventilation, premature birth and death.

So far, data on birth outcomes is limited, she added, as the vaccine has only been available since December. But the small number of pregnancies followed to term have not identified any safety signal.

Pregnant women have not been included in clinical trials of vaccines, and absorption of vaccines has been poor in pregnant women. The majority of pregnant women seem reluctant to be vaccinated: only 23 percent of pregnant women had received one or more doses of the vaccine in May, according to a recent study.

Dr Adam Urato, a maternal and fetal medicine specialist in Framingham, Mass. Who advises patients on the vaccine almost daily, said pregnant women are very wary of exposure to synthetic chemicals and want evidence scientists stronger than vaccines are safe.

“The only question my patients ask me all the time is, are we absolutely sure these vaccines won’t affect my baby? ” he said.

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