COVID-19 vaccine not advised for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding

They say that “it has been advised that until more information is available those who are pregnant should not have this vaccine”.

Their statement adds that “many vaccines can be given safely in pregnancy” but because of “the new formulation of this particular vaccine the MHRA wants to see more non-clinical data before finalising the advice in pregnancy”.

It adds: “It is standard practice when waiting for such data on any medicine, to avoid its use in those who may become pregnant or who are breastfeeding. This will be kept under review as more evidence becomes available”.

The document adds - “Here are the key points you should consider until we have more evidence:

if you are pregnant you should not be vaccinated – you can be vaccinated after your pregnancy is over

if you think you may be pregnant you should delay vaccination until you are sure you are not

if you are planning to get pregnant in the next 3 months, you should delay your vaccination

if you know you are not pregnant you can start the two-dose course now and you should avoid getting pregnant until at least 2 months after the second dose

if you have had the first dose and then become pregnant you should delay the second dose until after the pregnancy is over

If you are breastfeeding you should wait until you have finished breastfeeding and then have the vaccine. If you were breastfeeding when you had the first dose you are advised not to have the second dose until you have finished breastfeeding”.

They add that “this advice is precautionary until additional evidence is available to support the use of this vaccine in pregnancy and breastfeeding”.

“It may then be possible to have the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

“Until that advice is changed you may be able to have one of the other COVID-19 vaccines that are expected”.

See document

______________________________________

A message from our editor: Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.