New research shows the shots do not increase risk of miscarriage, the agency said, but the risks of severe disease from a coronavirus infection while pregnant are serious.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday strongly recommended that pregnant and breastfeeding women be vaccinated against Covid-19, pointing to new safety data that officials hope will sway the many who have resisted despite mounting evidence that the coronavirus can pose grave risks to their health and increase the chance of a preterm birth. The new guidance marked the first time the agency gave strong, unambiguous support to vaccination during pregnancy, bringing it in line with the advice of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other medical specialty groups. It comes amid a surge in Covid infections across the nation, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, and renewed efforts by the Biden administration to push up vaccination rates to stem the virus’s spread. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize a third vaccine dose for certain immunocompromised people as soon as Thursday. “CDC encourages all pregnant people or people who are thinking about becoming pregnant and those breastfeeding to get vaccinated to protect themselves from Covid-19,” the C.D.C. director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said. “The vaccines are safe and effective, and it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations.” Only 23 percent of pregnant women have received even one dose of Covid vaccine in the United States, and, in recent weeks, physicians have reported seeing more pregnant patients becoming infected, C.D.C. officials said. The C.D.C. said its new guidance applies not only to pregnant women but also to pregnant individuals who do not identify as female. (The surveillance data it reviewed, however, is based on participants who self reported as female.) Pregnancy is on the C.D.C.’s list of health conditions that increase the risk of severe disease for people infected with the coronavirus. They are significantly more likely than patients who are not pregnant to require intensive care, to be connected to a heart-lung bypass machine, and to require mechanical ventilation, and they face a 70 percent increased risk of dying.
