Pregnant woman getting vaccinated.Photo: getty
Pregnant womenwho have received the COVID-19 vaccine are not at a greater risk of giving birth prematurely, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a new study, published Tuesday, the CDC analyzed 46,079 pregnant women who had live births, with 10,064 of those women receiving at least one dose of the COVID vaccine during their pregnancy.
Results showed that only 6.6 percent of the babies were born prematurely — before 37 weeks — and 8.2 percent were born small for their gestational age — weighing less than 5 lbs. 8 oz.
The CDC concluded that the study’s results show that “birth outcomes did not differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated women.”
Dr. Heather S. Lipkind, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Yale University and lead author on the study, said that researchers “plan to do follow-up studies on infants and their development, but there hasn’t been enough time to do them yet,“The New York Timesreported.
Top U.S. medical groups have previously urged pregnant women to get vaccinated against COVID-19 throughout the pandemic.
Doctors from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) affirmed that pregnant people can get vaccinated if they choose to, and said that there is “no theoretical reason” that the vaccine is dangerous to the pregnant individual or fetus, which is in linewith the CDC’s advice.
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According to theCDC, those who are pregnant, or were recently pregnant, are more likely to get “severely ill” with the coronavirus, as compared to others who are not with child.
The national public health agency noted that the vaccine is “recommended for people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or might become pregnant in the future.” Officials added that pregnant individuals “may receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot” as well.
“Evidence about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy has been growing. These data suggest that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any known or potential risks of vaccination during pregnancy,” the CDC said.
source: people.com
