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The World Health Organization on Friday changed its guidelines for pregnant women considering a Covid-19 vaccine, dropping opposition to vaccination for most pregnant women unless they are at high risk.
The change follows an outcry at the previous WHO position, which said the organization “does not recommend immunizing pregnant women” with vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
Several experts expressed their disappointment on Thursday at the WHO’s earlier position. Experts noted that this did not fall within guidelines on the same issue from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and would confuse pregnant women seeking clear advice.
The vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, although they have not been tested in pregnant women, have shown no harmful effects in animal studies. And the technology used in vaccines is generally known to be safe, experts said.
The new wording from WHO reflects this information:
“Based on what we know about this type of vaccine, we have no specific reason to believe that there will be any specific risks that outweigh the benefits of vaccination for pregnant women.” The recommendation is now closely aligned with the CDC’s position.
Experts welcomed the change, praising the agreement among the world’s leading public health organizations on this important issue.
“I was very happy to see that the WHO changed its guidelines for offering the Covid-19 vaccine to pregnant women,” said Dr Denise Jamieson, obstetrician at Emory University and a member of the group of Covid experts with the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The association was one of many women’s health organizations that had urged Pfizer and Moderna to speed up immunization testing in pregnant women.
“WHO’s more permissive language offers pregnant women an important opportunity to get vaccinated and protect themselves from serious risks of Covid-19,” said Dr Jamieson. “This blazingly rapid WHO review is good news for pregnant women and their babies.”
Pregnant women have traditionally been excluded from clinical trials, leaving a paucity of scientific data on the safety of drugs and vaccines in women and their unborn children. Vaccines are generally considered safe, and pregnant women have been encouraged to be vaccinated against the flu and other illnesses since the 1960s, even in the absence of rigorous clinical trials to test them.
Pfizer will test its vaccine in pregnant women over the next few months, according to a spokesperson for the company. And Moderna plans to establish a registry to observe side effects in women who have been immunized with its vaccine.
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