Is it safe to give vaccines to pregnant women?
It is not known if vaccines have an adverse effect on pregnant women.
Expectant mothers report side effects similar to non-pregnant females.
However, real-world data shows that mothers-to be are at greater risk of contracting Covid. This is especially true if they become infected during their third trimester, or if they have any other health issues.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists advises that pregnant women may have an increased risk of stillbirth or premature birth if they get Covid.
Last month, the NHS revealed that one fifth of Covid patients who were on ventilators for Covid had been given a jab by expectant mothers.
Can vaccines cause harm to babies while they are still in their wombs?
Experts have uncovered no proof that the jabs can harm babies in the womb — and insist there’s no reason to suspect they would either.
Covid vaccines are free from ingredients known to cause harm to pregnant women and their babies.
They also do not have organisms that could multiply within the body. Therefore, they can’t infect unborn children in the womb.
Jabs have never been shown to cause harm in animal studies.
Research, involving over 40,000 women, has shown that vaccines do not increase the likelihood of miscarriage or preterm birth.
In the UK, miscarriages are common in between 20 and 25% of pregnancies. Stillbirths occur in just one out 200 pregnancies.
Are vaccines making it more difficult to become pregnant?
It is not known if the Covid vaccinations affect women’s chances at getting pregnant.
The British Fertility Society and Association of Reproductive and Clinical Scientists claim there is no scientific evidence or theory that any vaccines may affect women’s fertility.
There have been thousands of cases where women who have had the jabs have reported a disruption in their periods.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in the UK (MHRA) had received 41 332 reports from women who experienced side effects during their menstrual cycles after taking the Covid jabs.
Women received nearly 50 million Covid vaccinations in the past five years.
Some side effects were heavier, or more frequent bleeding than expected. There was also a higher incidence of painful periods. But the MHRA said the changes are ‘transient in nature’ — meaning they are short-lived.
Period problems are very common — with up to a quarter of women of childbearing age reporting them at any one time — and are often triggered by stress.
Why wasn’t the first vaccine offered to pregnant mothers?
The Covid jabs were tested in clinical trials, but not pregnant women.
The UK’s vaccine advisors, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, (JCVI), didn’t have sufficient evidence to recommend that pregnant women get vaccinated last winter when the jabs first started being offered.
But real-world data from the US — where 90,000 pregnant were given doses of Pfizer or Moderna — did not reveal any safety concerns.
The JCVI recommended that such jabs be given in the UK.
Studies have shown that jabs are just as effective for pregnant women than they were in those not yet pregnant.