Israel recommends coronavirus vaccine for pregnant women, marking a shift as some countries reassess risk - The Washington Post

When some countries began rolling out coronavirus vaccines late last year, each put forward its own criteria for which populations to prioritize — a list that, for the most part, excluded or cautioned against the inclusion of women who were breastfeeding, pregnant or expected soon to be pregnant.

Scientists have gleaned relevant information from ongoing studies, while comparable vaccines that have been around longer do not carry safety concerns for pregnant women, so the benefits increasingly outweigh the risks, said Marian Knight, a professor of maternal and child population health at Oxford University.

Medical research again leaves pregnant women waiting for a vaccine — this time for coronavirus.

In December, Britain, among others, did not at first include women who were pregnant, breastfeeding, or could soon be pregnant in its vaccine program, citing a lack of evidence due to the exclusion from Phase 3 human trials.

“However, the coronavirus vaccines have not yet been tested in pregnancy, so it has been advised that until more information is available, pregnant women should not routinely have these vaccines.”.

It added, “If a coronavirus vaccine is given to a pregnant woman, she should be reassured that the vaccine does not contain live SARS-CoV-2 virus and therefore cannot cause covid-19 infection in her or in her baby.”.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said that coronavirus vaccines should not be denied to pregnant women.

The European Medicines Agency said in December that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine should be used by pregnant women only on a case-by-case basis depending on a patient’s other risks factors, citing the current lack of clinical trials.

The country’s ministry of health has said that women who are pregnant or lactating cannot get the vaccine under the current emergency authorization.

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has also yet to cleared by the government for pregnant women, though a trial to test it on children and those who are pregnant will begin in the spring, according to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

Coronavac, one of the Chinese-developed vaccines, will soon be tested on pregnant women and children in Brazil, according to China’s state-run Global Times, citing a Brazilian official.