FRIDAY, Sept. 2, 2022 (HealthDay News) — COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is not associated with an increased risk for preterm birth, small for gestational age at birth, or stillbirth, according to a study published online Aug. 17 in The BMJ.
Deshayne B. Fell, Ph.D., from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa, Canada, and colleagues conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study from May 1 to Dec. 31, 2021, involving all liveborn and stillborn infants from pregnancies conceived at least 42 weeks before the end of the study period and with gestational age ≥20 weeks or birth weight ≥500 g.
Researchers discovered that 50.6 percent (99.7%) of 85,162 infants were those who received a COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. It was not found that vaccinations during pregnancy were associated with increased risks of preterm births, spontaneous preterm births, or very premature births. Also, there was no increase in stillbirths or small for gestational ages at birth. These findings were not affected by the number of doses of vaccine received during pregnancy, mRNA vaccine product or trimester of vaccination.
“Our findings — along with extant evidence that vaccination during pregnancy is effective against COVID-19 for pregnant individuals and their newborns, and that COVID-19 during pregnancy is associated with increased risks of adverse maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes — can inform evidence based decision making about COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy,” the authors write.
One author revealed financial ties to medical information technology industries.
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