The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine recommends that pregnant and lactating women have access to COVID-19 vaccines in general and has advocated for the inclusion of women who are pregnant or lactating in vaccine trials. The society has suggested that health care professionals “counsel their patients that the theoretical risk of fetal harm from mRNA vaccines is very low.” It published resources this week for physicians and patients focused on COVID-19 vaccination and pregnancy.
In a review published online December 10 in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology MFM, Amanda M. Craig, MD, of Duke University Health System in Durham, North Carolina, and coauthors note that there “is a theoretical risk for fetal harm from any untested medical intervention and this is no different for COVID-19 vaccines.”
“Pregnant individuals should be given the opportunity, along with their obstetric provider, to weigh the potential risk of severe maternal disease against the unknown risk of fetal exposure, and make an autonomous decision about whether or not to accept vaccine until pregnancy safety data are available,” they write.
