There's new preliminary data indicating the COVID-19 vaccine is safe in pregnant people.
A study from the New England Journal of Medicine used the CDC's v-safe after vaccination health checker, the v-safe pregnancy registry and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System to look at pregnancy outcomes and vaccine side effects in pregnant people.
Participants received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, which includes the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
Of the 3,958 people part of the v-safe pregnancy registry, 827 had a completed pregnancy during the study. Outcomes were "similar to incidences reported in studies involving pregnant women that were conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic."
Dr. Richard Beigi, president of UPMC Magee Women's Hospital, says the results preliminarily validate what doctors and other health experts have been saying for months.
"There's no real theoretical reason to believe these should cause harm, and in fact, we think they should be very helpful for pregnant women because they prevent COVID," he said.
Health experts, including the CDC, initially said pregnant people could choose to get the vaccine, despite no data on the vaccine during pregnancy.
While the data shows there are no obvious safety concerns regarding the vaccine in pregnant people, the New England Journal of Medicine acknowledges long-term follow-up is necessary for more complete data.
"You're going to continue to hear more data as more and more women across the country opt to take these vaccines, and I think they should continue to feel safe about their choice," Beigi said.
The study also observed COVID-19 vaccine side effects in 35,691 people who self-identified as pregnant on v-safe.
While pregnant participants reported pain at the injection site more frequently than nonpregnant women, they reported other side effects like headache and chills less frequently.
