By: SELF Magazine

Since it was created in 2021, one of the most important and ongoing topics in the news and social media has been how well the COVID-19 vaccine works, especially for pregnant women.  In the United States, the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine can be given to women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, as well as to adults and children over the age of five (CDC, 2022). If you are pregnant, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2022) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)(DATE) suggest getting the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Which COVID-19 vaccines are approved and safe?   

• Pfizer- BioNTech 
• Moderna 
• Johnson &Johnson / Janssen

(CDC,2022)

Does COVID-19 vaccine have side effects? 

According to the CDC (2020), the COVID-19 vaccines are completely safe during pregnancy.  Pregnancy loss is not a risk.  Mild side effects are: 

• Pain at the site of the injection
• Fever
• Muscle or joint pain
• Headaches
• Fatigue

These slight side effects can be dissolved with safe pain killers, such as Acetaminophen (Tylenol).  

• Note: A few people develop some rare reactions, such as thrombosis (the formation of a blood clot, myocarditis, which is swelling of the heart muscle), or Guillain- Barre Syndrome (a rare immune disorder). According to the CDC (2022), these reactions are very rare. 

Other information  

Check out the following monitoring programs to learn more about the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines.  

• Vaccine Safety Database (VSD) 
• Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) 
• V- Safe 

(ACOG, 2022; CDC, 2022) 

If a pregnant woman gets the COVID-19 vaccine, can she still get the virus? 

It’s important to know that the live COVID-19 virus is NOT in any of the approved vaccines. This includes the two mRNA and the Johnson& Johnson, which uses a modified version of a different virus (CDC, 2022).  

Myth Vs Facts

By: Marco Verch Professional Photographer

Myth #1

The World Health Organization (WHO) advises pregnant women to avoid COVID-19 vaccines, but other sat the choice is theirs (KHOU11 News Houston, 2021).

Fact #1

This was a common myth that confused pregnant women and affected their decisions. The FACT is that the CDC (2022), and WHO (2022) do recommend COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women for the following reasons: 

• mRNA COVID-19 vaccines create antibodies to protect the pregnant women from getting sick from the COVID-19 virus. 
• mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are highly successful in preventing severe illness, hospital stays, and death from COVID-19 infection, especially in pregnant women. 
• The growing data demonstrating that COVID-19 vaccine antibodies can pass to the fetus during pregnancy, thus protecting the baby, as well.

Myth #2

Women who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine experienced miscarriage (Toledo, 2022; Villareal, 2022).

 COVID vaccine causes miscarriages, stillbirths

Fact #2

The FACT is that pregnant women or women who are planning to get pregnant are safe to take COVID-19 vaccines.  It does not cause miscarriage (CDC, 2022; ACOG, 2022) or harm the fetus in any way. According to Aharon et al.’s (2022) study, the miscarriage rate between the COVID-19 vaccinated group and the unvaccinated group was not noticeable. 

Myth #3

COVID-19 vaccines cause Infertility among people who are trying to get pregnant (Toledo, 2022)

75 percent COVID-19 vaccinated women experiencing miscarriages

Fact #3

Infertility, or the inability to get pregnant, is a heartbreaking event for women who are trying to conceive.  However, researcher and MD, Aharon et al.’s (2022) study highlighted the growing evidence that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were safe to use while trying to convince.  

The FACT is that the CDC’s (2022) stated that some of the participants in the vaccine trials got pregnant. “According to a recent report, using the V-Safe COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy safety monitoring system data showed that 4,800 people had a positive pregnancy test after receiving the first dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine” (CDC, 2022 p.1) 

Make Your Decision on Facts Not Myths

The Fact is that COVID-19 infection is linked to a higher risk for women during pregnancy and negative birth outcomes. Since 2021, a large amount of peer-reviewed factual evidence has supported the safety and effectiveness of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines during pregnancy. More and more evidence also show that COVID-19 vaccines do not cause problems with fertility in either men or women. 

References

Aharon, D., Lederman, M., Ghofranian, A., Hernandez-Nieto, C., Canon, C., Hanley, W.,  Gounko, D., Lee, J. A., Stein, D., Buyuk, E., & Copperman, A. B. (2022). In vitro
fertilization and early pregnancy outcomes after coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-19) vaccination. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 139(4), 490-497.
https://doi.org/10.1097/aog.0000000000004713

American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG). (2022, September 2).
COVID-19 vaccines and pregnancy: Conversation guide. https://www.acog.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccines-and-pregnancy-conversation-
guide-for-clinicians

Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (2022, August 25). Vaccination considerations for
people pregnant or breastfeeding. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-
ncov/vaccines/recommendations/pregnancy.html

Kalafat, E., Heath, P., Prasad, S., O‘Brien, P., & Khalil, A. (2022). COVID-19
vaccination in pregnancy. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 12.
https://www.ajog.org/action/showPdf?pii=S0002-9378%2822%2900364-7

KHOU 11. (2021, January 28). WHO advises pregnant women to avoid COVID vaccine,  but others say the choice is theirs [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lxNp5iPZzo

Toledo, A. (2022, November 11). Former Australian MP warns 75% of COVID-19
vaccinated women are experiencing miscarriages. Naturalnews.com. https://naturalnews.com/2022-11-11-75-percent-covid-vaccinated-women-
experiencing-miscarriages.html

Villareal, M. (2022, January 21). Pfizer’s COVID vaccine causes miscarriages, stillbirths.Newstarget.com. https://newstarget.com/2022-01-21-covid-vaccine-causes-
miscarriages-stillbirths.html